Author's Notes: HA! Bet you weren't expecting an update the same day as I publish the first chapter, huh? Well, I didn't want to wait to start developing Yang's side of the story, since she is the protagonist ( at least for Act I). I also wanted to start fleshing out the story's internal mythology.

Disclaimer: Most of the Vampire mythology for this story is stolen from Shadowrun (I just love the idea of the MHMVV). A little is also taken from Vampire the Masquerade/Requiem (it's an element of both games, you'll know it when you see it). I already said I don't own either of them.

Act I: Shadows within Shadows

Chapter 2—The Fallen Huntress

Remnant's broken moon hung over Vale, illuminating the fog that shrouded the city-state. From her perch on a rooftop, Yang Xiao Long frowned. It was almost full. Dangerous for mortals. Dangerous for monsters.

The Human/Faunus-Metamorphic Vampiric Virus (HFMVV) affected different races in different ways. They became monsters, creatures known as "Metabeings,"but the difference between the virus' effect on a Human and the effect it had on a Faunus was so different, it was hard to believe the new creatures were spawned from the same micro-organism. Humans became Vampires, undead blood-drinkers. Faunus, on the other hand, were transformed into Werebeasts. Most of this second race lost control of themselves as the Moon grew, with the full Moon reducing any afflicted Faunus to a mindless savage that would attack anything that moved, little more than a Grimm. Yang shuddered at the thought; as much as she hated being a Vampiress, she was thankful she didn't have to go through that.

The results of this were that Huntsmen and Huntresses tended to patrol more heavily on nights of the full moon, in order to protect the common citizenry from attack. This tradition had become lax in recent years as most surviving Werebeasts took to living outside the protection of the Kingdoms or else locking themselves in quieted, safe-rooms when the full moon rolled around so there was less need for intense, monthly hunts. That wasn't to say they had stopped, however. That would have been beyond foolish, so Yang would have to be careful if she didn't want one of her former allies spotting her. As much as the blond hated her current existence, she wasn't ready to give it up, not as long as Ruby still needed her. That was why Yang continued to fight so hard in spite of her condition, for her sister's sake.

With that thought encouraging her, Yang leaped from her perch into the fog below. This was a trick she'd needed some effort to master, but now that she had, she would admit it was one of the handier parts of Vampirsm. Folklore assigned a wide array of powers. In truth, the Vampires' universally held powers were pretty limited, albeit still useful: enhanced aura capacity immunity to age, poison, and disease; and sharper senses, for example. One of the stranger gifts, though was the ability to merge with one's environment. Yang used this power now, becoming a ghostly figure floating within the mist.

Yang felt her head pound. It took a great effort of will to adopt this form and maintain it (the Vampire's molecules wanted to condense back into a solid and reject the mist), and it was pretty limited. More powerful Vampires could disappear into shadows or become one with the earth beneath them. Yang, however, wasn't that advanced, so she was limited by the presence of mist. Still, it allowed her to travel quickly and quietly over the city.

Given the amount of willpower needed to maintain this form, one would think it would be difficult to think of anything else while in it. Unfortunately, Yang's mind had always found multitasking easy, and it couldn't help but wander. She thought back to that night. The night the stars had gone out. The night her life as a Huntress had ended. She remembered the pain in her neck and the blood on her lips. Remembered Ruby . . .

"RRRRRRRRRARR-RRARR!"

Yang's mind returned to the present at the sound. That was not the sound of any mundane animal. Yang turned; although her body was now partially fog, it still seemed to function the way it did when she was totally solid. To her right, she saw several figures leaping across the rooftops. Now that, she thought, looks like a party. The rooftops were above the fog, so the blond-haired Vampire couldn't fly to them. Plan B, then. If anyone could see Yang's translucent, semi-solid form in the mists, they would have seen her lips curve into a smile. Yang loved Plan B.

The Mist might not extend to the figures' height, but Yang could travel below them. The Vampiress' ghostly form flew closer to the group, then stopped. Yang almost fell, awestruck by the sight before her.

The person at the head of the pack was a dark-haired young woman wearing a form-fitting black and white outfit. She was holding a kind of double weapon in her hands. One held a black, thin-bladed sword with a ribbon on the end, while the other was holding a wide, cleaver-thing. A small, black bow was perched on the top of her head, so out of place with her utilitarian, borderline militaristic appearance. As she leapt across a street, the woman flipped and opened fire on her pursuers; turns out, her sword's hilt contained a built-in pistol. She then landed on the opposing rooftop without breaking her stride. Yang got a brief look at the woman's face as she landed; she was gorgeous.

Yang's amazement was cut short, however, as the woman's victims recovered. They were all Faunus, Yang realized. Correction: they were all Faunus, once. Watching their muscles swell; their horns, fangs, and claws lengthen; fur erupt all over their bodies, Yang knew they were as mortal as she was. She didn't even need the signature black outfits with white armor and masks (most of which had been deformed by the transformation process, anyway) to identify them. These were the White Fang.

The White Fang had once been a peaceful organization, founded for the protection and promotion of the rights of all Faunus. Being a minority on Remnant, the race had faced much persecution over the course of their history from humanity. About twelve years ago, things changed. Rumors said the Fang fell under new leadership. Yang didn't know if that was true and didn't care. The new White Fang were terrorists; they stole, vandalized, and murdered seemingly without rhyme or reason. They claimed they were still out for Faunus rights, but the Faunus didn't particularly care for them anymore. Worse, there were rumors that the Fang were actively turning some of their agents into Werebeasts. As Yang had learned shortly after her own induction into the Vampire clan, those rumors were all to true.

Unlike most Werebeasts, the Fang seemed to have developed a way to control themselves during the full moon—or any other time of the month. For centuries, Vampires had ruled the night in the Kingdoms because they had complete control over themselves and their abilities. Werebeasts often lived in the settlements and villages outside the central city-states. More exposed to Grimm, but less likely to be discovered by Huntsmen and Huntresses. After all, it was hard to hide out in a city when you turned into a howling, rampaging monster three or more nights a month. And it was hard to compete with Vampires when, the closer to the new moon you got, the more mundane you became.

But the White Fang had changed the rules, developing a means to control their transformations perfectly, which allowed them to take over the Southern half of Vale and rule it like Vampires. In fact, they had actually slain the southern clan's Master and massacred a majority of the coven along with him. No one was sure how the Fang were doing it, but no one could argue their effectiveness of their methods. That was why Weiss had prioritized keeping them out of her territory.

The raven-haired woman being pursued was a skilled warrior, possibly a Huntress even, but no mortal could hope to survive this many Werebeasts. Time to kill two birds with one stone: save the girl and score points with the boss. And look cool doing it, of course.

Yang materialized within the fog, falling rapidly. Any other time she would have savored the adrenaline rush, but now was not the time. The fallen Huntress activated the mechanisms within her golden bangles. The bright, heavy jewelry expanded up the length of her arms, becoming the Ember Celica, a weapon as wild and deadly as Yang Xiao Long herself.

Yang waited until the last possible moment, then fired two shots at the ground. The resulting explosions rocketed her back into the air, until she was floating just above the rooftop the woman was engaging the Werebeasts on. For a single moment, mortal and monster stopped and looked up at the sight of the amazing, flying blond woman. Yang gave them a wink. Always play to the audience, even when you're planning to kill them.

The blond wasted no time in opening a barrage of fire on the assembled creatures. Literally. The only type of Dust ammunition Yang used was Burn Dust. It was amazingly destructive and, for all their advantages, most monsters—Meta-beings or Creatures of Grimm—seemed just as vulnerable to fire as regular people. Werebeasts had a special vulnerability to the substance: their fur was flammable. As a result, by the time Yang landed beside the mystery woman, she had already either killed or incapacitated several enemies and caused severe pain to most of the ones she hadn't. Unfortunately, about seven or eight were still standing, many of whom were now very angry with her.

"Now'd be a good time to run!" she announced, she cried, banging her knuckles together loudly. Sparing a glance over her shoulder, she winked again, this time at the Werebeast's victim. The woman regarded her carefully, apparently not quite getting the message.

Meanwhile, a bulky Werebear volunteered to actually face the fallen Huntress, charging right at the pair. Yang responded in kind, barreling into him with her super-charged Vampiric aura.

"UUUUUURRRRRRR!" the monster cried, as Yang's fist connected with his gut, knocking the wind out of him. The brawler wasted no time in pressing her advantage. She followed with a series of punches to the same area. The White Fang Meta-being tried to counter with his own mighty arms, but Yang easily kicked them away. Yang jumped back just enough to leap forward again with another devastating punch to the midsection, causing her opponent—victim, really—to double over in pain. Sensing that she had succeeded in piercing the monster's aura, Yang released one last punch against him: a destructive uppercut to the chin, combined with a well-timed shot from Ember Celica. The poor fool never had a chance.

Enraged, another trio of infected Faunus leapt at her. A Werelion, -boar, and -wolf. Yang smirked at their poorly-chosen strategy, and pulled her arm back to launch a counterattack. She never got the chance to use it.

Something, black and spinning, flew through the air, slicing through all three monsters. Each one was severed with a loud Bang! that confused Yang, until the last one was bisected. Then, she saw the object fire a single shot to send it spinning backwards into the outstretched hand of the dark-haired woman Yang had been trying to save.

The woman caught her weapon in her hand, while Yang caught her breath in her throat. Standing there, illuminated by the Moon behind her, the woman looked even more exotic and beautiful. Yang saw her elegant features: her smooth, pale skin; her silky hair that danced in the wind; and her shining, golden eyes. The woman must have been a Faunus herself, Yang thought. No human had eyes like that, and the agility she had displayed earlier . . .

The mysterious woman seemed uninterested in Yang's adolescent gawking. She opened the flying weapon she held, revealing it to be a collapsed version of her sword and leaped into the fray, entering into a duel with a Werehyena. The ravenette danced away from the Werebeast's claws, slashing, blocking, and parrying with both weapons. It was an impressive display, but it also served as a reminder to Yang that their battle wasn't over.

The brawler narrowly avoided the strike of a female antlered Werebeast holding an axe. Another nuisance about the White Fang was that they maintained enough intelligence and control in their transformed states that some of them could still use weapons in it. Those of a more predatory mien still preferred to use their claws, but many others now carried man-made weapons into battle alongside their natural ones.

The antlered Werebeast, for example, reversed her grip on the axe, then aimed the bottom of the handle in Yang's direction. Gun mode, Yang realized. She drew her arms together into a guard as the infected Faunus opened fire on her. The blast pushed Yang back several feet. She felt her heel extend beyond the edge of the roof. Wow, Ruby would've like that, Yang thought. Immediately, a burst of sadness crashed into her, like a wave striking a sand castle.

"Oook!" The next thing the brawler knew, she was flying backwards, yanked—or rather, Yang-ked—by a black ribbon tied around her waist. The spot where she had been standing exploded, and Yang landed on her butt beside the woman whom she'd been trying to save. Who had just saved her.

"Thanks," Yang said. Once again, she was struck by just how amazing this woman was. Not only was she beautiful, she'd managed to defeat her own opponent and still have time to save Yang. Which she wouldn't need to do if you kept your head out of the clouds, the brawler reminded herself. Stay focused, girl!

"You're welcome," the woman whispered. If Yang didn't have Vampiric super-hearing, she probably wouldn't have heard it. The woman's voice was so soft, but there was something else. She looked: sad? Shocked? Something else? Yang opened her mouth to ask, but before she could say a word, the woman spoke again. "Look out!"

The pair jumped back as the antlered Meta-being crashed down on the place where they had been with her axe. Yang let out a fired repeatedly, sending a flurry of fireballs at the monster. Her foe jumped up, but the brawler's new partner was ready for her. The golden-eyed woman through her weapon (collapsed into its chain-scythe form again) and caught the leaping Werebeast by the ankle. Amazingly, she managed to pull the powerful beast back down to the rooftop.

Neither landed gracefully, Yang's ally was thrown to her side by the impact, but that was all right. The Meta-being had taken the worse fall, and Yang was waiting for her. It went against the brawler's remaining human instincts to attack an opponent while she was down. It was foul, rotten even, and made her feel more like a thug than a Huntress.

But, she'd been a Vampire for years now. She was quite accustomed to feeling and fighting dirty.

The antlered Werebeast fell backwards, shifting back to her normal Faunus form, minus the fact that her face was now a smoking mess. Yang tried not to think about that. Looking around, she could see the remaining White Fang agents had already fled. Cowards. Even when they still held the advantage of numbers, they'd abandoned one of their own to face the enemy pair. Speaking of which, Yang and the woman turned to face each other. The woman now held her weapon in a loose grip: not putting it away but not advertising a desire to turn on her.

Fair enough. Yang decided not to deactivate Ember Celica, but held her hands at her sides, flashing the woman her biggest and most charming smile. Hopefully, her fangs were still small. "Well, that was a thing," she said. Come on, Yang, you can do better than that. Wait? Why do I want to do better than that? I'm a Vampire, and she's . . . a Huntress? A mercenary. Clearly a warrior. Yang didn't know why this woman wasn't attacking her, but she should just count her blessings, jump back into the fog, and mist-form the Dust out of—

BANG!

Yang watched as the woman before her clutched her side before collapsing. Yang turned and saw a man, just at the edge of her enhanced vision packing up what appeared to be a sniper rifle, then fleeing into the night. Yang saw red; she clenched her fists. She bent her knees to chase after the SCUM who would dare—

"Ahhh!"

The blond brawler became aware of the quiet whimpering coming from the fallen warrior woman. She was clutching her side, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Her aura must have been depleted by the fight, but even if it wasn't, she would have been in trouble. Bullets were rare in Remnant they weren't much good against Grimm or Meta-beings and didn't give you the variety Dust ammo had, but against a mortal, they did a lot of damage. Once inflicted, not many could heal such a grievous wound.

"Hold on," Yang said. As gently as she could, lifted the injured woman into her arms.

"AH-AHhhhhh!"

Yang cringed at the beautiful warrior's cries. She tried to smile at her. "It's all right. I'll take you to the hospital."

"N-no!" the woman choked.

"What?" Yang asked. Was she delusional? "You'll die if you don't get help."

"I-I'll die . . . if-ff I go . . ."

Yang wanted to ask what she meant, when she saw the injured woman release a little pressure on her wound. The blond brawler wanted to yell at the ravenette, but she couldn't. She was too surprised at the sight of little trails of smoke emitting from the wound. Yang leaned down, inhaling a deep breath of the woman's scent. She hadn't noticed it earlier, surrounded as they were by Werebeasts, but she noticed it now. Grimm and Dust did she notice it now.

"You're . . . like them?"

Lexicon: HFMVV

The Human /Faunus Metamorphic Virus is one of the stranger elements of Remnant. Essentially, it is a disease capable of rewriting the genetics of those whom it infects, whom are collectively called Meta-beings, Metas, or "Vrykolakae" (sing. "Vrykolakas"). There are several Strains of this virus, and it seems to have vastly different effects on its victims depending on whether they are human or Faunus. Strain I, the most common variation of the disease, causes Humans to become Vampires and Faunus become Werebeasts. There are several other, less common species born of other Strains of the disease, but a common feature is that, unlike Grimm, all Meta-beings have an Aura. They may even have a Semblance although, if they were trained in its use prior to infection, they may find it has undergone certain cosmetic differences as a result of the change. Regardless, the mere possession of an Aura proves that Metas, unlike Grimm, possess souls. This does not change the fact that the standing orders of Huntsmen and Huntresses in regards to Vrykolake is "Kill on sight."

The White Fang

The White Fang was founded shortly after the Faunus Rebellion (A.K.A. The Faunus Wars) as a group meant to champion the rights of the numerically inferior Faunus and to protest Human discriminations against the race. Their ultimate goal was equality and harmony between Humans and Faunus. The organization grew in size and popularity amongst the Faunus, but achieved only minor success in its aims. roughly ten years ago, the organization came under new leadership. These new leaders had a more radical vision: exposing the use of violence to achieve its aims against anyone and everyone seen as enemies of the Faunus race. Numerous accounts of property damage and assassination have been attributed to the Fang since then, and they are currently considered the most sought-after criminal enterprise in Remnant.

DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUN! OK, you were all probably expecting Blake to be a Were, but Yang wasn't. Let's see where this goes.

Also, question: Regarding the Lexicon note that a Vrykolakas' Semblance undergoes certain changes as a result of the transformation. In canon, Semblances are described as tangible manifestations of Aura, and Aura is supposedly a manifestation of the soul. So, can Aura and Semblance change in the show? I mean, in Harry Potter, a Patronus, which was also a representation of a person's inmost self, could change if a person underwent a significant life-changing event. So, shouldn't the same hold true for Aura and/or Semblance. Just a thought.