"… Shouldn't I just shut up and start bleeding?"
*Click
Her aim is true, the crossbow bolt buries itself in the huntress' neck and Vayne's throat explodes.
"Wha?"
The vampire collapses on the floor, her knees touching the carpet first struggling to support her weight and then it's her head and her face and forehead and the rest of her body as the vampire's frame rushes to meet the floor. And Shauna tries to breathe, she wheezes and chokes, her windpipe blocked by the ranger's crossbow bolt and her own scarlet blood silencing her whimpers.
Quinn can only watch, frozen in shock, her gaze still locked on the dying woman, beautiful amber orbs wide in horror, absorbing every little detail as Shauna's blood keeps staining the carpet, the sanguine puddle beneath her body slowly turning into an endless red sea. And somehow, even after all her extensive blood loss and extreme pain Vayne is still alive and breathing, her red, bloodstained lips are moving, trying to form words, words lost in the crimson rivers escaping her throat. Her eyes are staring right back at the stunned scout, ruby colored orbs open wide in pain, fear and sadness.
"That didn't happen! I stopped her before she managed to kill herself."
Quinn watches from a distance as a woman bearing her face and garbed in her typical ranger outfit kneels down next to the dyeing vampire, glaring at her in contempt. Vayne's face is even paler than usual, her features twisted in agony, eyes brimming with pain and tears as her fingers move weakly as if to grasp the false scout's hand, searching for a shred of comfort in her last moments. But her doppelganger will have none of it, 'the ranger' smiles and steps back, eyeing her coldly.
"No, that's wrong! It didn't happen like this! This has to be a nightmare."
Vayne whimpers, red tears rolling down her cheeks, her hands retreat back to the carpet, her head drops in resignation. She is dead.
"No!"
00000
The scenery changes and Quinn finds herself in an old cemetery facing a hole in the ground. The hole is already big enough to contain the average human, but the gravedigger keep digging feverishly as if he's about to burry some kind of monstrosity, a sick abomination that should never have existed in the first place.
The man abruptly stops and throws his shovel away as he approaches the lifeless body. The corpse is tacked in a white sheet, ragged and dirtied, filled with numerous tiny holes. The man tears it apart without a second though revealing the deceased's body and Quinn moves uncomfortably. It is Vayne, bloody and pale and motionless, her once vibrant red eyes are now white and glassy, crossbow bolt still attached on her pierced neck.
The gravedigger pauses for a second and then smiles, he grabs Shauna's hand and removes the ring from her finger. The signet ring is a beautiful thing, made of gold and small rubies wrapped around a shiny red stone bearing the huntress' insignia, the work of a master craftsman. A seal of royalty bestowed upon Vayne's late family by the king of Demacia, Jarvan Lightshield the Third himself. The gravedigger smiles toothily, his eyes darting among the silent gravestones as he stealthily shoves the ring inside his back pocket.
"Hey, put that back!"
The Scout is furious, she tries to grab the thieving scum, but her hand just phrases through him as if she isn't even there, the man doesn't even look at her.
The preacher is next, he opens the huntress' mouth and grabs one of her fangs with a pair of tweezers.
"Stop it!"
The old preacher ignores her, he proceeds to rips out her fangs and then kicks the body inside the hole, the gravedigger spits on his muddy palms, grabs his shovel and starts covering the hole's opening.
"Hey Preacher, what about a gravestone? I didn't see any of them lying down nearby."
"She doesn't need one, nobody is going to visit her anyway, her whole family's dead."
"Any friends?"
"Are you kidding me? You saw those damn fangs, this thing was a goddamn monster. No, no one is gonna be missing her, of that I can assure you. "
"Tsk, that's one sad existence if I do say so myself, I knew the kid before she turned into this.. Thing you know."
"Yeah? How was she?"
"Sweetest little girl I've ever met, she used to help the homeless, drag her parents to charities, hell, she even tried to donate her family ring once, in order to feed a poor bastard."
"What happened?"
"Ever heard of the red manor night?"
"Who hasn't? Shit, you don't mean to tell me that she was the actual Night Hunter, silver crossbow bolts and all?"
"Yep, that's the one. Whole house butchered in a single night, servants, maids, family, even the horses were found dead in the stables, hanged by their own intestines. She was the only survivor, that little one. They say that even the ceiling was painted red with blood and gore."
"Shit, what happened next?"
" Things got quiet for a while, Shauna inherited the families' fortune and lived in the manor along with a few servants, it was only weeks later that the rumors started spreading, rumors about the sleepless child that preferred to stay in the shadows avoiding the sunlight and its ruby-red eyes that followed you from the darkness."
"That must have been disturbing I assume, so who was brave enough to expose the little monster?"
"That would be Prince Jarvan IV- grace may smile upon him- the prince somehow got whiff of the rumors and headed to the Red Manor in order to confront her. No one knows what happened during his visit. Some say that the Prince is as cunning as he is virtuous and uncovered the demon's plans all by himself, some others say that the servants slipped something on the girl's tea. A few royal guards that were present at the time seem to imply that it was Vayne's madness that broke the ruse. Bottom line is, the heiress attacked the Prince and so the secret was out. The demon-child was confined in the manor's basement until the king took pity on her and offered her a deal. Hunt don't her kin in exchange for her freedom or rot inside her cell for all eternity."
"And?"
"What do you think, you drunkard? The wench accepted.
000000
The scenery changes again, a grand dining hall obscured by darkness, beautiful stained-glass windows covered with black silk curtains, a lone girl is sitting at the head of the table eyeing famous delicacies with despair. Sour pork, vegetables covered in honey, pastries and cakes and exotic meats, their alluring scents invading the child's nostrils, making her mouth water. She is hungry, so oh so hungry, she licks her lips and stabs a piece of meat with her fork before raising it to her lips with trebling hand eager to taste it, she takes a small bite and then she spits it out, the marinated pork feels like rotten eggs inside her mouth, its crispy texture reminding her of old charcoal submerged in moldy dust.
She bites a boiled vegetable, soft colorful flesh drifting inside her mouth, singing to her taste buds and she collapses on the floor in a fit of coughing. Shauna scowls, spitting out the last bits of her food as she reaches for a piece of bread. It tastes horrible and she finally doubles over and throws up, she can feel the servants' stares bearing into her trembling back, but she stays on the floor for a while listening to her heartbeat pumping in her eardrums until someone approaches her.
He is a servant of course, no outsider has stepped foot inside the Red Manor after her parents funeral. The man leaves a steaming bowl of soup in front of her curled form and smiles politely.
"How about some soup, eh young mistress? It is warm and tasty and good for an upset stomach"
Little Vayne nods, her small hands capping the bowl uncertainly, she brings her lips on the bowl's edge and takes a small sip, she waits for the feeling of repulsion holding her breath in anticipation but the seconds drag by and everything is still fine, so Shauna takes another mouthful.
The soup is delicious, thick and fragrant and spicy like she enjoys it, she will have to thank the cook later. The vampire smiles and Quinn sighs in relief, she smirks a bit as she watches young Vayne gobbling down the soup as if it is the last food on earth. The snickering of the servants breaks her out of her reverie and Quinn gazes at their smirking faces and reeling grins and her heart sinks inside her chest as her gaze returns back to the small vampire devouring its food. Quinn dashes at Vayne's side in an instant, her eyes drawn to the remains of the broth. The contents of the bowl smell horribly, the soup is a muddy red, the stench alone makes the scout's stomach turn, Quinn's gaze returns to the maids rolling on the floor, laughing loudly and her eyes widen.
"Stop eating that!"
She tries to slap the bowl away from the child and her hand just passes through it, but it doesn't matter anymore. The bowl is now empty and Vayne pauses as she glances at the cackling servants raising an eyebrow in question.
"See? I told you she was going to like it."
A young man dressed like a cook kneels next to her, weird Shauna doesn't recognize him and she is pretty sure that she has memorized the faces of all the servants living in the manor by now.
"Would the young Lady like another serving?"
"Yes, please."
Vayne smiles with the innocence of a child and offers her bowl expectantly and Quinn's heart wrenches inside her chest as the Head chef returns the child's grin, his big beady eyes observing her with pretend kindness masking the malice brewing in his heart.
"You heard her, boys."
The servants make way for the cooks, two giant men carrying a huge pot, Quinn can already feel the bile rising in her throat, she can already guess one of the broth's ingredients, she glares at the chefs pleadingly.
"Stop, please, stop. She is just a kid right now, please don't steal away her innocence."
Quinn tries to block their advance, they pass through her just like before and the scout can only watch as the two giants stop in front of the smiling ruby-eyed child. The men pause for a moment as if weighting their choice but they soon lower the pot and remove the lid so Vayne can take a peek inside.
"DON'T LOOK!"
But she does look anyway and the little girl's smile freezes on her face. The men let her look at it for a full minute and burn the image in her mind's eye before they finally have the decency to cover the gruesome sight. The odor of blood, the black guts, the still thrashing rats dying inside the pot, the head cook takes her bowl and fills it to the brim with muddy blood and rat guts and then places it on the floor next to the stunned heiress, he then grabs one of the rats and pulls it out.
Vayne remains silent, teary eyes unintentionally following the chef's movements as the man raises the rodent until it looms over the bowl and slits its throat. Putrid blood explodes at Shauna's face, dripping inside her bowl and the chef gives the rat a small squeeze before dumping it back in the pot, the chef then turns around and leaves, his booming laughter echoing inside the manor, accompanied by cheers and mocking shouts and everybody is laughing. The maids, the chefs, the servants everyone laughs and laughs and laughs for what feels like hours pointing at the speechless child that is sitting on the cold marble floor staring at them with glazed red eyes while they keep cackling like madmen, their faces twisted in mirth, roaring like demons.
"Be sure to finish your food, ok princess?"
The servants leave her, dragging their feet, sparring a few glances at the monster in the dining room, a young maid smiles at her from behind her shoulder and then silence, the servants are gone.
Quinn closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again, her gaze darting between the pot and the motionless child's stiff back. She doesn't want to look at Vayne right now, but the young vampire turns around anyway and Quinn gasps. The girl is still there, but her soul has already left, the child's face is frozen, a happy smile still plastered on her lips, tears rolling down her cheeks slowly, eyes opened wide ready to pop out of their sockets clouded with madness, hate and despair.
Vayne stands up after a while, her childish smile fading never to appear again, her next movements are stiff, calculated, completely wrong for a child her age. The sight of the little girl's face is what makes Quinn finally break and the scout rashes to hug the little vampire that haunted her dreams for so many years, even though she knows it is pointless. Shauna's expression is cold, emotionless, her crimson gaze is empty and uncaring. She isn't a child anymore, she is the Night Hunter.
Jarvan IV enters the room shortly afterwards, accompanied by the Head chef and a few of the other new servants, now dressed in shiny ceremonial armor painted in the gold and blue colors of the royal guards. The scene dissolves as the child is led away from the manor restrained by silver manacles and the white-eyed specter hidden behind the scout shakes its head and starts constructing the next nightmare.
Note: Here, have some of Vayne's past and a few nightmares. I liked this chapter too much to butcher it.