A/N: I hadn't intended this to be more than a one shot, but as I write this I keep finding places to pause for chapter breaks, so it is going a bit longer. There are some strong references to pedophilia in this chapter, though nothing graphic, so if you are easily offended I would suggest you skip it. Again, I don't own any of the characters, or the setting, I'm just borrowing, and I'm not getting paid for it. Please let me know if you enjoy.
Detective Inspector Harold "Harry" Potter sped out of the Barrens 30 kilometers over the speed limit. Once out of the run down area and on the highway, he pulled into a rest area. He was angry and hurt, but more angry, especially at her. Harry had grown up with his Irish-Catholic aunt and uncle in their home in Bremerton. He was a special kid, and he had known he was special for a long time. His aunt and uncle couldn't see it, and neither could his cousins who made it their daily mission to push him around. The priests knew he was special, though, and had been more than willing to spend time with him. Father Herbert had especially taken an interest in him, and had ensured that Harry knew just how special he was. Being born magically active was seen as both good and bad in the Sixth World. It definitely had its advantages as well as its disadvantages, such as when you scared others because of the things you could do. So Harry grew up underappreciated by his family, his mundane family.
Then he met Edward. He was only thirteen at the time, but Edward could see how mature Harry was for his age. Though he wasn't the first, Edward was the most caring of lovers, though they were only together for a few years. Harry understood, though. Edward couldn't stay in place for long because he didn't want to kill people, but he needed the blood to live, so to keep from accidentally killing his victims Edward constantly moved around. They were supposed to stay in touch, Edward had promised, but things hadn't worked out. The bronze haired angel had probably run into people like Bella who just did not understand him. Harry understood him, though. He understood everything about him. That was why he understood why he had to save Edward from Bella three years ago. Someone had framed Edward, planting evidence and influencing witnesses to point to him. It was probably Bella, when Harry thought about it later. She had always had a grudge against the vampire, and Harry wouldn't have put it past her to make the evidence fit the perp, and not the other way around. So Harry understood why Edward couldn't stay around after he had saved him. Why Edward had barely said thank you after Harry had pulled the stake from the vampire's chest. Bella had made it so Edward couldn't stay around.
Edward was back now, and Harry would be damned if Bella stood between them again. He focused, chanting the words to channel the energy he needed for the spell to fix his nose. Bella would pay for what she did, he would make sure of it. He started the car and pulled out, catching the first turn around and heading back into the Barrens.
Bella pressed her hand against the Colt ManHunter pistol holstered under her left arm, scanning the read out that popped up on her sunglasses. Fully loaded with caseless explosive rounds, battery for the laser sight at full charge. She slid her hand down to the sword sheathed on her hip, passing over the belt of sharpened stakes that circled her waist. Knives where sheathed along both her forearms, and a compact crossbow was against her back. Everything fit neatly into place, all hidden under her armored great coat, providing her both a fashionable look and protection from bullets and blades. Just in case that wasn't enough, she also wore a set of form fitting body armor under her street clothes, a dark turtle neck with Kevlar reinforcement around the neck, and black cargo pants and steel toed boots.
The sun had finally fully set, casting the streets of the Barrens into darkness. Some of the streetlights still worked, and they struggled to fight back against the darkness, casting pools of orangish light onto the filthy, cracked pavement below. Some of the windows along the street showed signs of working lights, though most stayed dark. Most of the people that lived here did not have enough Nuyen to pay for electricity, and in the grand scheme of things stable power in the Barrens wasn't as important as making sure the social and financial elite in the Seattle Metroplex were happy and comfortable. It was the same reason that Lone Star, as well as the local police, didn't patrol down here. This was the part of town for the throwaways, the outcasts, the people who didn't matter to society anymore.
Bella took a deep breath, tapping into her inner power to shift her vision to allow her to see in the low light conditions that surrounded her. It would be dark inside the house, she knew, because vampires liked to keep it dark. Even the ones that, like Edward, suffered from the Myers strain of Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus liked to keep their layers dark so that they could hide from themselves. Bella had read up on the research involved in that particular strain, but the information was limited at best. The Myers strain was first identified by the Volturi Medical Group under contract by DocWagon, consisting of three brothers, Doctors Aro, Caius and Marcus Volturi, and was named after the identified Patient Zero. According to their research, the victims of the Myers strain of HMHVV displayed an overwhelming urge to avoid bright lights, though day light had little to no effect upon them. They also had an unexplainable need to coat themselves in glittering material so that any bright lights they did encounter caused them to sparkle. Edward was one of the Myers strain, and after tonight, there would be one less.
Bella walked around the building, ducking down the alley to reach the back of the building. Vampires were wily creatures, and Bella had run across a few who had taken the precaution of booby-trapping the front door of their lair. She had almost fallen into that trap, but the interference of fate in the form of a rival slayer, had saved her from walking in it. The windows at the front and back of the house were well off the ground, a good foot or two above Bella's head, and most of them didn't have glass, just boarded over with whatever material that could be found. There was a set of steps that ran from the alley to the back door, close to the building to keep from interfering with the transit of vehicles. Bella crept up the steps, scanning each before she set foot on it, looking for any signs of tampering or traps. She could nearly feel her heart in her throat as she reached the porch and looked around the corner at the back door of the building. It was old but solid looking with no visible hinges and an old style key lock that predated the turn of the last century. Bella gently touched the doorknob, testing to see if it turned, and was mildly surprised to find the door swung open with a slight touch. She drew her ManHunter from the shoulder holster, keeping the laser sight turned off for the time being as she pushed the door open and stepped into the darkness inside the building.
The air smelled of damp and dust, rotted dry wall, and vermin. There was something else, something raw and foul that crept at Bella's senses, but she couldn't quite place it. The door led into a cramped kitchen with dirt-encrusted tiles on the walls and floor. The counters were cracked and warped with filthy dishes and trash stacked on any surface that would hold them and the sink was crammed full of things that Bella didn't want to think about. She surveyed the room quickly, noting the pantry door lying on the floor with tiny red eyes of rats staring out of the darkness at her, waiting to see if she would be their next meal. The other door that led out of the kitchen entered a barren room with cracked floors. A pile of rubbish was heaped in one corner with scattered bits of debris across the floor. It wasn't a large room, and there were two doors that came off this room, as well. One door was partially opened, allowing Bella to look into the next room, again devoid of life but filled with the clutter of trash and sign of squatters. The other door, though, was closed tightly.
Bella stretched her senses out, straining her ears to listen for any noises that didn't belong in this dark, empty building. Nothing. A murmured incantation stretched her senses out further, and she could feel the presence of vampires below her. Vampires. Shit! The bastard had turned or recruited others and brought them here. Bella sighed. This was going to be a severe pain. She crossed over to the door, scanning the area of the doorframe and floor for pressure plates, trip wires, or motion detectors. Seeing nothing, she crouched next to the door, lightly running her hand over the door and frame, first below the knob, then above it for as high as she could reach. Still finding nothing, she rested her hand on the knob and slowly turned it, praying it wouldn't rattle.
It didn't. The bolt disengaged quietly and Bella pulled the door open enough to slip onto the stairs, her pistol aimed down as she scanned the darkness below. With her enhanced senses, she could still see, though it was like looking through a dark tinted window. The lenses on her sunglasses had automatically changed tint to near transparent to give her the best visibility possible. Bella made her way slowly down the stairs, feeling each step carefully before putting her weight on it and keeping to the outside edge of the steps to make sure they didn't squeak beneath her meager 115 pounds of weight. About halfway down the stairs took a sharp turn to the right and Bella stopped, leaned against the corner. She could feel them nearby, just around the corner, or maybe a bit further. The spell was slightly taxing to keep up, but it could easily prove the difference between life and death if she didn't catch the leaches before they caught her. Taking a breath to calm herself, Bella slowly pealed around the corner, the pistol in her hands pointing where her eyes looked, just as they had taught her in the academy, and she had practiced everyday while with the Star. The stairs to the bottom were empty, and she only wished that the basement had been empty except for the Ginger bastard she had come hunting.
She descended slowly, a step at a time until she set foot on solid ground and looked around to take in the layout of the basement. It was fairly simple, a small room no more than 3 meters squared with two doors, one to her left and the other straight across. The floor was cement, though it had been decades at the very least since anybody had taken any kind of care of it, and it was cracked in about a million places. The walls were brick with metal doorframes and metal doors. Bella slid quietly across the floor, taking position next to the door on her left and listening, straining her ears to catch the slightest noise, but again nothing. Her heart in her throat, she slowly opened the door, letting it swing open past her as she stepped into the room, her pistol held at low ready. That was when she heard it, the soft sound that had been diminished by the door. A hitching breath, a sob, she wasn't quite sure, but she heard it now and was scanning the room for the source. In the far corner Bella saw a figure huddled with its legs pulled up against its chest and arms wrapped around its legs. Dark, dirty hair covered the face, falling to the top of the knees, leaving the identity as anyone's guess, but the fact that it was a child was nearly impossible to miss. Bella scanned the room as she crossed quickly to the child, praying she wasn't too late.
"Are you hurt?" Bella asked quietly, crouching near the figure. She allowed her pistol to lower away from the figure, reaching out with her other hand to touch the arm. It was a rookie mistake, one that Bella knew not to commit, and it nearly cost her an arm for the transgression. The vampire's head snapped up, mouth open, fangs extended and glistening wet as it uncoiled from its place on the floor, launching for Bella's throat. Only the fact that Bella was far, far faster than a normal human, and far better trained than most, saved her as she shifted her weight and shoved herself backwards, away from the vampire. Her pistol seemed to aim itself as she fell back, and it bucked in her hand once, twice, three times. The vampire's charge was halted mid-flight by the impact of the heavy rounds into her torso, followed a millisecond later by the explosions that ripped out her chest and showered the room in blood and gore. With the heart destroyed, well as a good portion of the torso, the vampire would never move again, Bella knew. She pushed herself to her feet, wiping blood from her face with her free hand as she slowly, cautiously, approached the twitching corpse. The girl, Bella was pretty sure it had been a girl, lay on the ground, her eyes still open and her mouth opening and closing in silent, futile gasps. Her hands clenched and unclenched, feebly trying to rise up from the ground to grab Bella and rip her open, drink her blood. It was useless, though. Bella knelt next to the girl, lifting her shirt and examining the damage. The torso was shredded, large chunks blown clear by the explosive packed rounds that had been pumped into her chest. Contrary to popculture shows on the trideo or simsense, vampires didn't just turn to dust when they died. They left a very real, often very messy, corpse behind that had to be dealt with.
Bella holstered her pistol and reached into an inner pocket of her coat, withdrawing a small, tightly capped vial of clear fluid. Uncapping it, Bella put a small drop onto her forefinger and drew the sign of the Cross on the vampire's forehead then recapped the vial and replaced it in her coat. She could feel the prickling of tears behind her eyes, but there wasn't time for that now. The element of surprise had been lost, and she still had more vampires to kill before the night was over. She would weep for the young girl later, raise a glass in her honor at the bar, but that was later. She rose, drawing her pistol from the shoulder holster and turned towards the door, ready to get this done.