Dawn: Phew, I finally did it! I FINALLY GOT THE NEXT CHAPTER UP!
Ed: After like two weeks.
Dawn: Shut up, at least it and the next chapter are done. Now I just have to type that one up too.
Roy: General thanks for reviews go out to .lolcatsrule., RenCC123, SakuraLetters, and bluecrystal angel for reviewing, and to anyone who alerted this story or stayed faithful, I guess.
Dawn: We had a hard time filtering through the story and stuff, 'cuz we don't want Eddo-kun to kill us.
Ed: *confused* Why would I want to kill you?
Dawn: I DENY EVERYTHING! *hits Ed over head with sledgehammer*
Roy: WHY? *picks Ed up and starts crying*
Ed: *weakly* ImmortalDawn18 does not own FullMetal Alchemist...
Roy: NO! Quick, I'll get the reviewers to make you feel better! *runs off*
Dawn: Come on, Eddo-kun, I'll go get the first-aid kit. Reviewers can kiss Ed's wound better, I guess. If not, they can have a balloon I found. *picks up Ed and walks away with him*
Maintenant et pour toujours (1)
I: Un coup sur un million (2)
Roy liked fire. It was one for the strongest of his weak pleasures, that and killing werewolves. Very few vampires would not kill a werewolf, but none had the drive the dark-haired male did. Hunting the mistakes of his kind was what he did best, was the sole purpose in his long, monotonous existence, and with that in mind, fire proved itself time and again to be an efficient weapon. The only call he had ever felt was the hunt, which was why so few of his kind bothered interacting with him and the awed fledglings (3) had dubbed him Flame.
Friends. Emotions. Soulmates. All were distractions in his eye, ways to become soft, weak, two things Roy Mustang couldn't, wouldn't, be. He could control himself without a Soulmate, he was was certain, no matter what the others thought. If abstaining from love, from the atrocities of feeling, was his price for protecting the foolish humans, then so be it. He would distance himself from the fledglings and the newborns (4), surely his Soulmate must be a vampire, and attend counsels only by proxy, all to continue his globe-trotting to hunt werewolf threats.
His other friends, all of whom had a Soulmate, couldn't understand his willingness to walk the fine line between nothingness and insanity, but he knew he couldn't miss what he'd never really had. Love made one foolish, and when one was hunting werewolves, foolishness only brought death. Roy knew well what he had signed up for when he first tasted vampire blood (5) all those decades ago, willing to give up everything for the one he loved. Still, he couldn't help but admit the irony of how once he'd become a vampire, the love had faded and she'd fallen in love with another. Life, he decided, was a bitch.
No matter how many times it got him thrown out of a town, Edward would not regret using his power to save lives. He knew all too well how it felt to be the victim who goes unsaved, so he would never turn his back on someone. Alchemy may frighten the other humans, but he would never undo the past even if he could, not unless he could've saved...
He sighed, jerking a hand viciously through his hair. He'd put his past behind him, dammit, because if he stopped to think about it, he would only want to kill something. Deciding this spot was as good as any, he stretched out under the offered shade of a nice pine tree, closing his eyes in a half-hearted attempt to doze off.
Roy did not deign to conceal his approach as he strode down the slope towards the small werewolf pack. In fact, he even announced his eminent arrival by humming the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" absently in his once-native tongue of French. Oh, how he missed the simple beauty of his homeland, the disdainful courtesy offered by his people, the hoof beats of Napoleon's approaching army... On second thought, perhaps it was for the best he'd changed and left the country.
The female brunette wolf with pink ears (6) sprung at him first, while he was distracted, nipping his shoulder painfully and clawing at his side. Roy yelled in pain, lashing out with his fire and catching a large white wolf with red eyes and an abundance of scars across the face. The female lunged again, redirecting the vampire's attention long enough for her companion to slip away into the forest. Blood dripped lazily down his arm, drawing small tributaries across his skin, but he ignored it in favor of yanking the werewolf back by her tail. She yelped in an incorrigible mixture of surprise and pain, but he didn't prolong her suffering, ending her life with s swift twist of his wrist.
His entire arm was covered in blood from below the elbow, and he eyed the piece of meat still clutched in his fist with distaste, repulsed by the carnal attraction of the cooling flesh (7). Eradicating the remains with but a thought, he resisted the urge to lick his flesh clean. He couldn't afford to cleanse his blood and body (8) right now, not when there were still two more wolves running rampant. Straightening himself ever so slightly, he started after the male wolf's scent trail, wanting to finish him before he had a chance to recover.
A low growl awoke Edward, followed by guttural speech (9). "You, mortal who has so unwisely chosen to slumber here in the forest, I apologize for what I must do, but I need to consume your energy, fleeting as it may be, in order to endure the Flame."
"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SMALL ENOUGH TO NOT EVEN SUSTAIN A VAMPIRE FOR MORE THAN A MICROSECOND?" Ed exploded, his body quivering in anger.
"You," the creature, obviously a werewolf from its pointed teeth in the muzzle, the elegant carnassials (10), and the gleaming feralness in its red eyes. A scent of burnt fur wafted from the wolf, making Ed's eyes water and triggering his gag reflex. There was a unique brand of exquisite beauty in its movements, despite the limping gait due to some kind of recent injury, but it was a beauty tainted with blood and murder, making the blond wonder what the once-noble beast might've looked like before he'd sunk to such a pitiful low.
The wolf sprung, jaws wide, perfectly capturing the ideal velocity to kill the human mortal in one hit with minimal effort...
(1)- Maintenant et pour toujours- Now and Forever (French)
(2)- Un coup sur un million- One shot out of a million (French)
(3)- fledglings- Fledglings are, in this story, vampires who were born, not made.
(4)- newborns- Newborns are to be the exact opposite of fledglings, vampires who were made, not born.
(5)- tasted vampire blood- to become a vampire, it's not if you are bitten or not, but if you consume vampire blood, which kills your body while protecting your body and releasing your soul.
(6)- female brunette wolf with pink ears- ... Rose. She doesn't make a return appearance after this chapter, so that's why she was included here.
(7)- ending her life... ...cooling flesh- For those of you who didn't get it, Roy just reached into her chest and yanked out her heart. The blood still pumping from the dying organ is what's attracting him to it, but drinking werewolf blood is not only a sin among vampires but also an act that would change the vampire into a werewolf as well.
(8)- cleanse his blood and body- The werewolf thing can also be triggered much like a disease, mainly an STD. If werewolf blood comes into contact with vampire or human blood, it overwhelms the opposition and turns the other into a werewolf as well. The only way to counteract this short of a Soulmate is to sit in holy water for 13 hours, not a pleasant prospect for a vampire, for obvious reasons.
(9)- guttural speech- Werewolves can physically talk in wolf form, vampires and humans can't, only use mental communication. Get used to it.
(10)- elegant carnassials- Carnassials are the teeth of a carnivore which allow it to shear flesh.