The Unseen World
Chapter 6: Can't Catch a Break
They had only just made it out of the sewers when Ruby's Scroll rang. Seeing Coco's number pop up again for the second time today, Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"Huh…wonder what's up this time?" Ruby mumbled to herself before answering with a cautious 'hello'. Instead of Coco's suave voice like she had been expecting, a panicked, nervous voice came out the other end.
"I-Is this Ruby Rose?" The voice sounded vaguely familiar, though Ruby couldn't place it.
"Yup, who's this?" Ruby asked, her body tense and nerves coming alive within her short body. Countless scenarios ran through her head at the thought that her senior could have gotten kidnapped while out on a hunt. "Ok, don't freak out." She was doing just that. "Breathe." Ok, thank the Gods she thought that. "Now evaluate the situation and devise a plan for a rescue-"
"M-My name's Velvet." The voice rushed out, stammering and blubbering which gave the redhead pause. "V-Velvet Scarlatina, I think Coco's told you about me before?"
And that's when it clicked for the redhead. Her shoulders sagged in relief. "Ah! So you're the girl Coco's always talking about, nice to finally meet you!" She was a little excited to finally be able to hear the object of her friend's obsess- she meant "attention"- but considering the tone that was used and the shaky breathing over the speaker of the phone something bad had happened.
That sinking feeling came back one hundredfold. "What's wrong?" She asked, waving off an inquisitive eyebrow and wave from Weiss who was trying to get her attention.
"It's Coco!" The rabbit faunus's voice came out broken and fearful. "She's hurt! Like really, really hurt and I don't know what else to do!"
Ruby felt herself stiffen up and became more alert. She was vaguely aware of Weiss doing the same, likely having overheard everything due to her enhanced senses. She felt herself pick up the pace, her steady walk transitioning into a jog. "315 West Avenue, right?"
Stammering came out the other end as the nervous Faunus tried to keep her nerves together, "Y-yes, o-on the third-floor apartments!" There was a slight pause. Then, "Wait, you've been here before?"
Ruby charted out a course on a mental map before pivoting on her feet and taking off into a run. "Once or twice." She easily admitted, turning down an alleyway and vaulting over heaps of discarded trash. "Alright, I'm on my way, just stay calm! Did you call an ambulance?" Getting proper medical attention was always a risky idea for hunters.
While some injuries could be passed off as mundane accidents, explaining away slashes and bites was far more difficult, not to mention bullet wounds. It was one of the main reasons hunters used Aura, not only did it enhance physical abilities to the point that it let normal people compete on the levels of supernatural creatures, but it also erased the need for medical attention in the first place.
But if something not only broke Coco's Aura and had wounded her so severely that she wasn't even able to call Ruby herself, then it was probably worth the risk.
"N-no, she was unconscious when she was brought in, and I didn't think calling a doctor would be a g-good idea.." Velvet stammered out, "I-I've already kick-started her Aura and wrapped up her wounds."
Ruby smiled as she rounded a corner onto a narrow 2 lane street, hearing Weiss's footsteps right behind her. "Good, if her Aura's active then that should deal with the worst of it." Her eyes narrowed as she processed Velvet's first line. "Wait, what do you mean 'brought in'?"
"A-ah, someone brought Coco here." The woman responded tiredly, disappointment was laced through her tone. "I-I didn't get a good look at them, they were covered up in a cloak that kept shifting colors." A murmur came from the other side, followed by a slight rustle. "They didn't say anything, just laid Coco down and then disappeared."
Ruby felt her heart lurch and her eyes widen. "Velvet, tell me everything you remember about this person." Her voice dropped low as her mind started racing at the description the rabbit Faunus had given her.
"W-well, I didn't get a good look at her." She fumbled with her words, clear distraught laced within her tone as she tried to remember. "Err, at least I-I think she was a woman, but they had this…feel to them," Her voice shakes a bit more, a small whine passing through the speaker that causes the redhead's heart to sink. "I don't think they were human. I'm sorry." The brown-haired rabbit faunus' voice sounded thick and watery from barely restrained grief that made it hard for Ruby to hear from the normally shy and docile girl. "I was so worried about Coco I didn't really pay attention to them…"
A variety of emotions passed through Ruby's mind, shock, and anxiety chief among them. "It's ok, just sit still, I'm on my way." And without waiting for an answer she hung up and pocketed the Scroll.
"What's wrong?" Weiss asked, even though she likely overheard the entire conversation.
"A friend of mine got hurt, pretty bad from the looks of things," Ruby replied, running a hand through her short crimson hair. "She's a hunter too, and a pretty good one. If she was as severely injured as Velvet let on with how panicked she was…" Ruby didn't elaborate further, her brow wrinkling in concern and frustration.
"...It sounded like you were worried about something else too," Weiss said as they ran through the darkened cityscape, street lights illuminating their path.
"...Someone else I know may be involved in this…" Ruby mumbled, increasing her pace slightly more. "I don't know for certain, but if she's involved, then things just got a whole lot more complicated."
"She?" Weiss parroted, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"I don't know her name," Ruby started, glancing over to her companion. "Because the one time she tried to speak to me…ah, well… Let's just say it didn't end well," Ruby chuckled a bit at that less-than-fond memory, with a nervous smile. "She's a Fae, probably the only one I've ever met."
"Oh boy, another supernatural creature I don't know about." Weiss snarked dryly, following Ruby down another alleyway. "Care to explain what a Fae is?"
"Fae are…"They came out of the alleyway, after having pushed past what they assumed was a drug deal. "They're…well…ah," Ruby massaged her forehead and grinned ruefully. "I was really hoping to save this for later. The Fae…are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Ruby finished, throwing a smile at an unamused Weiss.
"Riveting. Elaborate." Weiss ordered, giving her a flat stare.
"Well, ah," Ruby flailed her arms about, having momentarily stopped as a speeding vehicle drove down the street they had to cross. "No one knows what their deal is. They exist, are incredibly powerful, and have some inscrutable goal that no one knows about." Shaking her head, the young huntress jogged across with the snow color-haired woman followed closely behind. "They break a lot of rules too. As far as anyone knows, they have no weaknesses and are impossible to kill. Silver doesn't hurt them, and if you cut off a Fae's head, they'll just pop it right back on."
Weiss hummed, giving Ruby a side-eye, "The more I learn, the more I realize that you really don't know anything."
"Hey!" Ruby snapped at her, "This one isn't my fault! Nobody knows anything about the Fae!" Ruby shot a glare at her before softening, "Well, I guess that's not technically true. We know they look human enough to pass as one if it weren't for the fact that they just feel off somehow. They have powerful magic that's unique to each Fae." Shrugging her shoulders, she pressed on. "Luckily, they seem to not really care about humanity, or else we'd all probably be dead or enslaved to them right about now."
Weiss huffed before looking around, her night-adjusted eyes quickly scanning the concrete jungle. "What's so special about this one Fae, though?"
"She's saved my life a couple of times," Ruby answered simply. "She never sticks around, but I'd be dead right now if it weren't for her," She slipped her silver dagger out of its sheath and held it up, blade first. "She gave me this."
Weiss blinked, inspecting the way it glints in the streetlights above. It had no blemishes, no sign of wear or damage. By all means, it looked so… Otherworldly. So much so, that it made her skin itch and a shiver crawl throughout her body upon looking at it. There was just this… This. Fear. "Well," She started, taking a measured gulp of her own saliva. "That's an interesting story, especially considering what you just told me…" She mumbled, icy blue eyes following the blade as it was put back in its sheath. A sigh of relief unbiddenly passed through her lips. "How'd that happen?"
Ruby opened her mouth to answer before catching sight of a tower of steel and drywall along with signs and numbers that marked it as their destination "I'll tell ya later," She told the girl as she took off in a dead sprint. "Let's go meet Coco and Velvet!"
Weiss pursed her lips and looked as if she wanted to say something but kept her thoughts to herself, instead just nodding at the red-haired huntress.
Climbing up the twisting metal staircase, keeping a grip on the rusted handlebar, and then through the worn concrete of the third floor, Ruby tried to keep a handle on her nervousness as anxiety and worry bounced around in her like a swarm of angry bees. Idly, she let her fingers trail off the signs that dotted each door as she passed them, muttering the number out loud in her search for Coco's room.
"309…311…313…Ah! 315!" Ruby yipped excitedly, her hand quickly going to the doorknob only to stop as a soft moan, one that was most certainly not from pain, followed by a hiss, which probably was, drifted out from inside.
"Careful Bun Bun, I'm still injured, remember?" Coco's voice came out soft, just barely enough for Ruby to make out from where she was standing.
Face flushing at the thought of what she had just almost witnessed, Ruby stepped back from the door a bit awkwardly. "Well, at least Coco's awake…I should probably knock." Stepping back, she caught sight of Weiss, who was pointedly looking away from both the door and Ruby herself, and realized something.
"Did you know about this?" She whispered to Weiss, who had the courtesy to at least look flustered.
"I-I knew something was going on, I just didn't know where…I hear so many things now that it's hard to pinpoint anything specific" Weiss hissed back.
"Oh, that makes se-" Ruby's hushed reply was interrupted by another soft moan that barely made itself known from beyond the threshold. "Ok, that's enough," She said, face burning, and stepped forward to deliver a sharp rapt on the wooden door, "Coco? It's me, Ruby."
There was a brief silence that felt like a stiffening eternity, before an awkward cough and the sounds of very quick movement away from the door and shuffling broke it.
"Uh, hey Ruby. Give me a second, ok?" Coco's voice came out stilted and awkward.
"Y-yeah, of course…" Ruby mumbled and backed away from the door and paid very close attention to her feet.
What was likely a few seconds at least and half a minute at most seemed to drag on forever. The sound of a gentle wind breeze and the shuffling of feet on concrete as Ruby and Weiss awkwardly waited compounded together to create an aura of an uncomfortable intermission.
Just as it seemed the wait would stretch on to its fourth iteration of eternity, the sound of a latch coming undone from the front door broke the trance.
"Ok, come on in," Coco called, her voice once again smooth and confident.
Taking a deep breath to try and settle her nerves, Ruby opened the door.
This would mark the third time Ruby had entered Coco's apartment, the first having been when she had met the brown-haired girl. A pleasant outing with a (seemingly) sweet girl (seemingly) around Ruby's age had quickly turned unpleasant when she turned out to be a wight. Huntress she was, Ruby had let her guard down and paid for it when the evolved ghoul tried to dismember her. She would have been dead if Coco hadn't been passing by at the time.
She didn't remember much of it, only the sharp pain of suddenly having an arm sticking through her chest, and then waking up in Coco's room, bandaged up. That had been her first meeting with the brown-haired huntress, one of the only people that Ruby could genuinely (if charitable) call a friend.
Funnily enough, she had never gone on another date after that. Something about the whole incident seemed to have killed off her interest in having a love life.
That was a year ago, the second time she had been in Coco's house was 7 months later. A fight with a vampire had dragged on too long in the wrong area, calling all sorts of attention to herself she didn't want. While the fiend had been kidnapping and killing people, as vampires are wont to do, killing the man in broad daylight in front of a Scroll-bearing crowd hadn't been the greatest idea.
Unsurprisingly, the police didn't buy the "He's a blood-sucking monster from folklore that's been eating people" excuse, and Ruby was suddenly in desperate need of a place to lie low at. A place that Coco provided.
And as Ruby crossed the threshold marking the third time she'd been in the brown-haired girl's house, she noted that it hadn't changed at all.
There was still an oaken wood coffee table smack dab in the middle that still had three glass panes in it, of which only the left was still intact. There was still a tall, egg-shaped lamp in the corner, beaming light in the otherwise dark room. The windows still had those awful curtains with the mismatched color that Coco insisted were somehow fashionable. The floor was still cracked in a spot where Coco once had a recliner before it was destroyed. (To this day, Coco refused to tell Ruby that story)
On an old sofa sat Coco, lazily sitting with one leg on the table and a cocky smirk on her face. Her sunglasses were dipped just low enough that Ruby could see her eyes gazing piercingly at her and Weiss. As usual, she radiated an aura of confidence and nonchalance, and it would have been effective, if not for…
"That's not your shirt, Coco," Ruby stated blandly, pointing at the brown polo she had on, in contrast to the creamy-colored shirt she usually wore.
Coco's smirk faltered as she quickly, and apparently for the first time, dropped her gaze to her attire. "Shit." She mumbled as she realized Ruby was right.
"Uh, C-Coco?" A worried voice came out from down a hallway to the right, unmistakable Velvet's. "I think we grabbed the wrong shirts…."
Coco sighed and facepalmed as any chance she had at maintaining her dignity evaporated. "Yeah…We did….Just put mine on, they're already inside…"
A squeaky pitch called back, "O-ok!"
Ruby fixed Coco with a stare. "I can't believe you." She pointed accusingly at her, cheeks burning with both agitation and embarrassment at the same time. "Velvet just called me saying that you were out, which means you literally woke up and immediately decided to…to…" She waved her hands around as if to articulate her point.
Coco somehow managed an audacious smile, "It's called living, Red. We can die any day," She frowned and massaged her side, "A fact of which I've been painfully reminded about. So you gotta take every opportunity you get."
Ruby just continued her disapproving stare. "You're sex-crazed."
"I'm surprised you know that word," Coco replied, a bit mockingly.
"I'm 15, not 5." Ruby shot back with a roll of her eyes.
It was at this moment that Velvet made her appearance, popping her head in from the hallway.
"Um….h-hi." She said nervously, Coco's cream shirt fitting awkwardly over her. Throwing nervous glances at both Ruby and Weiss, Velvet made her way to Coco and sat down next to her. The rabbit Faunus, still looking skittish, huddled closer to Coco, almost trying to hide behind her despite the physical impossibility. "N-nice to meet you both."
Ruby waved to her while Weiss nodded to the older lady. "It's great to meet ya too… Though I wish it was under better circumstances."
"Y-yeah, so do I."
"So…" Coco drawled, leaning back on her couch with her arms hanging over the back edge of it. "I see you brought the Schnee." Her brown eyes locked with Weiss's, a challenge that the heiress-turned-vampire didn't back down from.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms, a frown on her face.
"Only what it sounds like," She whipped her hair to the side, giving her a slanted view at the heiress that seemed almost condescending. "That Ruby brought a vampire that also happens to be an arrogant, little rich bit-"
"Ok!" Ruby said, stepping between the two with a nervous smile on her face, "We're all friends here…or at least allies! Weiss was helping me with something when Velvet called." Fixing her superior with a pointed look. "In fact, she's done nothing but help me, so can we all play nice please?" She swiveled her head around, shooting pleading looks at the both of them.
Weiss huffed and broke eye contact. "Fine." It wasn't like she did anything to deserve to be addressed like that in the first place.
A small smile that Ruby didn't like at all graced Coco's lips, "Wow, Ruby. You already tamed the Schnee, good job!" She even threw in a clap to add insult to injury.
Ruby could almost feel the rage emanating from Weiss at that comment, like a volcano about to explode. Or Icecano? Snowcano? Either way it goes she sensed the impending catastrophe. Ruby jumped in front of the blue-eyed girl and hissed at Coco, "Coco, please!"
Coco snickered a bit, which did nothing to help, but finally relented. "Alright, alright I'll stop."
Weiss glared at the fashionista, "You better," before going and standing at one of the room's corners, giving swiveling glares to all three of its occupants.
Ruby sighed and massaged her forehead as she realized the monumental task she had in front of her of managing the two temperaments that the girls possessed.
"So…" Ruby said awkwardly, trying to break the frosty atmosphere. "How's your wound, Coco?"
The brown-haired huntress shrugged, "A lot better now, the bastard got a lucky hit on my side. Bun Bun over here-" She grinned and pulled the rabbit Faunus into a one-armed hug, "Gave me some of her Aura to get me back up and running, so I'm not gonna keel over any time soon. Still gonna be out of commission for a few weeks at least, probably a couple of months."
"C-Coco, yo-you're c-choking m-me" Velvet wheezed out, before gasping for breath as Coco let her go, earning a good-natured chuckle and pat on the back from the hazel-eyed girl.
Ruby looked at the pair, surprise evident in her eyes. She heard that Velvet had gotten Coco's Aura back up, but she assumed that meant she had given Coco bed rest and something to eat until it returned on its own. She smiled a bit, not missing the significance of what this all meant.
Aura could heal minor wounds, and could even patch the worst of fatal injuries if you had enough of it or had someone that could share theirs with you. It wasn't impossible to rejuvenate someone else with your own Aura, it was a well-documented process. The problem was the fact that your Aura was your soul, was inextricably bound to who you were as a person. It was your emotions, personality, hopes, dreams, ambitions, fears, memories, it was everything that made you you.
To take a part of yourself and put it in someone else wasn't something that could be done casually. It required the two people to understand each other on a deep, fundamental level. It required a bond, a trust, a love, so profound and immeasurable that it seldom happened in reality. It required a pair to quite literally be soul mates.
"B-But what about your chest?" Velvet stammered out, fear mixed in with concern, "Almost all your ribs were cracked a-and I know a few of them were broken."
"I'll be fine!" Coco said although it was clear to everyone that it was more bravado than anything else, "Ribs grow back."
"No, they don't," Weiss said incredulously, eyes slightly widened in surprise.
"No one asked you, Schnee." Coco flippantly dismissed the vampire, waving a hand in a shooing manner.
"Why you-" Weiss started, pushing herself off the wall and taking a step towards Coco in anger.
"So what attacked you?!" Ruby quickly interjected, positing herself once again between the white-haired vampires and the brown-haired huntress. "Gods, this is going to give me a headache…"
There was a pause as Weiss and Coco glared at each other. Velvet nervously fiddled with her fingers as she quickly looked back and forth between the two.
"What attacked you, Coco?" Ruby asked again, a bit calmer. She fixed her with a look, silently pleading with Coco to drop the hostilities.
Coco relented, dropping back into the couch and leaning against Velvet for support, a gesture that revealed she wasn't nearly as healed as she claimed. "I was investigating the Blackshire's, as I told you this morning," She sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. "I'm pretty certain each and every member of that family is a vampire. Jonathan was, at the very least, especially since he's the one who tried to kill me."
"A family of vampires?" Ruby asked, mouth opening slightly in shock, "That's…new."
Coco nodded, "Best case scenario is that they've somehow gone under the radar which, considering how long it took us to discover this, might actually be plausible. Worst case scenario is they've got something big looking out for them."
Ruby groaned and walked towards a wall, before dramatically sliding down it and sitting on the floor, "Great…why can't it just be a simple hunt?"
"Is that a big deal?" Weiss asked, her earlier hostility replaced somewhat with curiosity.
Ruby nodded from her position on the hardwood floor, "Vampires are paranoid by default. Turning family members isn't unheard of, but staying out in the public like this is. Most vampires prefer to rule from the shadows, pulling strings, manipulating people, that kind of stuff. They'll even kill other members of their kind that are too out in the open."
"It's natural selection," Coco added. "In this day and age of everything being online, Scrolls, and just so many ways of information traveling, the only vampires that survive are the paranoid ones that keep their heads down. The only way the Blackshire's can still be alive right now is that they're either very good at staying hidden even from their own kind, or they have something that makes taking them out too big a risk"
Ruby sighed, "If it took this long for anyone to notice that they were vampires, they may just be really good at staying hidden. This doesn't necessarily mean they have some kind of superweapon."
Coco massaged her forehead, hissing a bit in pain as she did so, "Maybe…the one thing we have going for us is Jonathan is dead."
Ruby made an awed noise, "You killed him? That's awesome!"
Coco grimaced and looked down, "Not me. It was a Fae that did it."
Ruby suddenly sat up, alert., "A Fae?" Her mind worked overtime, recalling everything she knew about the one who had saved her. "Ok great… Female? Cloak that kept shifting colors? Flower tattoos?"
Coco gave Ruby a surprised look. "Yeah, that's a dead ringer for her." Her eyebrows furrowed together as she scrutinized the red-haired huntress further. "You know that Fae?"
Ruby shrugged in a sort of 'so-so' manner, "Kinda? Maybe? She's saved my life a couple of times, and sometimes I catch glimpses of her just sorta… watching me." Shuddering slightly, she wrapped her arms underneath her modest bosom. "It's creepy."
"So you have a Fae watching out for you." At the younger huntress's nod, Coco's head cocked to the side with a curious glint dancing in her brown ones. " How'd that happen?"
Ruby sighed. "I wish I knew. I don't know what I did to get a Fae's attention, but I just hope it doesn't end up killing me."
Coco snorted, then doubled over in pain, clutching her side. "Ah, fuck," She gently massaged her side, which didn't do much if her grimace was to judge, before looking back at Ruby, "You never know with the Fae, be glad this one wants you alive rather than dead."
Ruby nodded with a sense of melancholy. "Yeah…so what do we do now?"
Coco crossed and uncrossed her legs. "I'd said right now we dig for info. Find out how many vamps we'll be dealing with, what assets they've got, and whether or not they've got some big nasty on their side."
"Um, Coco?" Velvet spoke up, her voice still nervous but a bit settled now. "I just thought of this…what if they have a Jiangshi?"
There was a sudden silence in the room and a dreadful chill seemed to enter its inhabitants.
"That…" Coco started, frowning. "Would be very, very bad."
Already sensing Weiss's impatience with the, to her, unfamiliar term, Ruby spoke up before she could say anything. "Jiangshi," She started, turning to Weiss. "Are like super vampires. Like, vampires plus. They're originally from Mistral and there aren't a whole lot of them. They spend, like, 99.99% of their life in hibernation. We-" She choked a bit as she shivered in what appeared to be dread. "We'd know if one was awake."
"They make other vampires from corpses, for one thing." Coco picked up where Ruby left off, "Probably how the damned things got started if you ask me. Besides that, even a sleeping Jiangshi is very dangerous. They've got magic that can rip you to shreds, the ability to control other undead creatures, yes that includes you Schnee so stay away from them, and the wrappings that they cover themselves in while sleeping are as hard as steel and sharp enough to cut buildings. And they can control those wrappings while sleeping, go figure. And that's just the stuff they can do while asleep."
Coco sighed and shifted herself somewhat, letting one leg dangle in the air while another rested on the table, "Let me put it this way. You know how 70% of Menagerie is an uninhabitable wasteland?"
Weiss nodded, "Of course. Factors such as a lack of rainfall, soil erosion, and wildfires leading to deforestation all led to that, right?"
"Wrong," Coco said, dead seriously. "What happened was a Jiangshi woke up 1500 years ago."
Weiss stared at Coco, mouth opening and closing. "I'm…what?"
"A Jiangshi only ever wakes up for one reason: To feed," Coco said, "They devour anything and everything they come across, no matter how big or small. Humans, grass, animals, and even creatures like vampires are nothing but sustenance to a Jiangshi. They eat their fill, and then go to sleep again."
Weiss slowly sat down, clutching her head in horror at the implications. "Over 3 quarters of that continent is uninhabitable…"
Coco slowly nodded. "That's why we'd know if a Jiangshi was awake. Luckily for us, they rarely ever wake up. It's also possible that they don't have a Jiangshi with them at all, and that we're freaking out over nothing."
Weiss suddenly stood up and looked towards the front door, causing Ruby to throw her a concerned look, "You alright, Weiss?"
Slowly, the snowy-haired woman nodded, "Yeah…just thought I'd heard something, I'm going to check real quick." She headed for the door.
"Ok!" Ruby called as Weiss left, casting her a worried look. "Be safe!" She turned awkwardly back to Coco as the front door shut, pocketing the talk she was going to have to have with her friend when they were leaving into the back of her mind. "So…is that true? About Menagerie?"
Coco jerked her head towards Velvet. "She's the one who told me it."
Velvet stammered a bit as Ruby looked at her expectantly. "W-well, m-my father, he's not a hunter b-but he's worked with some. He did a lot of research and investigating and looking into old legends and rumors a-and that's what he came up with."
Ruby beamed a bit. "He reminds me of my mom! She used to do that same kind of stuff, he sounds like an awesome dad?"
Velvet smiled a bit, "He is. I still talk with him every now and then, right now he's in Atlas investigating some urban legends about ghosts. I-I always tell him to be careful because he's not a fighter, but he never listens." She laughed a bit as fond memories played in her head.
Ruby laughed with her before a thought struck her. "Ah, Coco, I forgot to ask. Where did you investigate, by the way? To find out about the Blackshire's?"
"Oh, just their headquarters," Coco responded, smiling as she played with Velvet's hair.
don't worry I didn't go anywhere too crazy."
A sinking feeling of dread started to form within Ruby. "And you got into a fight there…with a vampire."
Coco stopped and looked at Ruby, frowning a bit. "Yeah." She drawled, wondering where she was going with this.
"In a building owned by a family of vampires."
"What's your point, Ruby?"
"A building with security cameras, meaning they've seen your face."
Slowly, with the gravitas of one who's seen death and escaped it only to peer behind their shoulder and realize the reaper was coming back for round 2, Coco's face morphed into one of sublime horror.
"Oh…oh shit," She suddenly stood up, ignoring the pain that such an action caused. "Pack your things Velvet, we need to get out of he-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a scream erupted from the outdoors. A scream of pain and anger, almost inhuman sounding. An anguished scream that Ruby had heard before.
"Weiss!" She jumped up from her spot on the ground and bolted for the door, tearing it open with desperate fury.
Weiss was hunched over with her back to Ruby, gripping the railing to avoid collapsing onto the floor. Dark drips fell from her head and ran down the arm held at her head. Stiffening at the sound of the door opening, Weiss turned towards Ruby, her eyes wide and panicked. Ruby could see the hole in Weiss's forehead, and the blood that was dripping out of it and onto the ground.
"Get down!" Weiss screamed, throwing her hand in Ruby's direction in a wordless attempt to push her away. Reacting on pure instinct, Ruby threw herself to the ground, hearing faintly the sounds of Coco and Velvet doing the same thing.
Just as she did so, a near-silent fwip pierced the night air and the back of Weiss's head burst open as the bullet pierced her skull, blood splattering onto the ground. Weiss staggered a bit, swaying back and forth before her legs gave out and she fell to the ground.
"Four…of them," Weiss managed out, breathing heavily, the blood trickling out of the holes in her head and her eyes were wavering, light shades of red coloring them as Weiss fought to stay in control of herself. "Don't know if they're human or…"
"Are you ok?!" Ruby hissed, crawling quickly over to Weiss's prone form and surveying the damage.
It wasn't bad, at least as far as wounds to a vampire went, the bullets weren't silver and in the long term, Weiss would heal. Short term, however, it was pretty bad, the pain was obviously debilitating, for one thing. While a vampire could shrug off non-silver wounds of any variety with ease, that didn't make them any less painful. And Weiss was someone who had likely never been shot at before and so didn't have the pain tolerance to handle it. Not to mention that if the gritting of her teeth, the tension in her muscles, and the light shade of red coloring the back of her eyes were any indication, Weiss was also struggling to stop herself from descending into a frenzy and attacking the nearest source of blood, which in this case would be Ruby.
"Get away from me," Weiss breathed out, "I saw two of them go towards the stairs, the other two are in a car down by the street, and at least one of them has a rifle. Get Coco, Velvet, and run."
Ruby shook her head, "You must think I'm an idiot if I'm gonna do that," She took up a crouched position near Weiss and readied her gun and dagger, "Ok, ok, ok, this is bad, but you can make it out of this. Coco and Weiss are hurt, I have no idea if Velvet can fight, there are probably two vampires making their way up here, one that's unaccounted for, and another that's gonna shoot me if I peek my head, but I can handle this."
Tossing a look towards the room, She saw Coco and Velvet had taken cover inside the house, Coco peeking her head outside just barely enough to not get shot. Her eyes locked with Ruby's and she jerked her head backward.
"Grab the Schnee and get in! I've planned for this sort of thing!" Coco hissed at Ruby, one hand gripping a pistol that Ruby hadn't seen her draw.
Ruby nodded and scrambled over to Weiss, hands going to grab her before the wounded vampire shook her off.
"Don't! Just go, forget about me!" Weiss snarled out, glaring at Ruby and holding her head in a futile attempt to stop the blood flow.
Ruby glared back, frustration building within her, "No. I'm getting you out of here." She went to grab Weiss again only for the girl to let loose an animalistic snarl and push her away.
Weiss's glare intensified, and it felt like the vampire was boring holes into her soul, "Ruby, listen to me. I'm useless in combat right now, I'll slow you down, and I can already feel myself start to slip. Stay near me and I will hurt you."
"No, you won't," Ruby said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I trust you."
Weiss reeled back as if struck, her eyes widening in surprise and mouth opening shock. A second later she regained her bearings and resumed her glare, although this time it lacked any sort of bite, "That's the stupidest thing you can do."
"Trust a vampire?" Ruby asked.
"No, trusting a Schnee. Compared to us, vampires are saints." Weiss remarked bitterly, a hint of self-loathing mixed in.
"Nope," Ruby said casually, earning a sputtering noise from Weiss. "I think I'll be ok trusting you. Something tells me that you're someone I can trust." She gave Weiss an earnest look, before holding out a hand to her, "And you shouldn't let your name decide who you are."
Weiss looked away, biting her lip a little, her eyes glancing around in the dark as she tried desperately to find something to say.
"Hey!" Coco called out from inside, earning a jolt of shock from Weiss and an "eep!" from a startled Ruby, "Have your moment later! In case you forget, we got two vamps barreling down on us, so move!"
Ruby looked from Coco and back to Weiss, her face hardening into one of determination, "Come on, Weiss."
Weiss hesitated for a moment, before taking Ruby's hand and letting the red-haired girl help her up, "You're going to regret this," She said, still seething in pain and sclera a faint red.
Ruby just smiled. "Nope, I don't think I will."
I had way too much fun writing Coco and Weiss's interactions in this chapter, I should have them talk more to each other lmao.
This arc is starting to wind down, only 2 or 3 more chapters to go before Ruby and Weiss hit the trail to Mistral. This arc is also more of an introduction to things, which is why the bad guys are OCs instead of anyone from RWBY. Don't worry, once we get past this, some more familiar faces will be showing up.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback. A big thanks to PhonyMangaka for being my beta reader for this.