Chapter 9: 1888, It's Alive!
It was November now and Rainy felt like all they needed to fulfil their goal was a final spark. What exactly that was, they were not entirely sure.
The form of her creation was already completed and would, in theory, be fully functional. All that was left was naming them and, well, completing the animation process.
Excitedly, Rainy made their way into town for a preemptive celebratory drink. In all the excitement, she had completely forgotten why Speedwagon had told them not to go into town at night.
"What are you out so late for?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her.
Rainy whipped around, "Uh, celebrating?"
The man was creeping closer, "Exactly what-" his body dropped to the ground.
As he fell, another figure was revealed behind him.
"Just how stupid are you?" Dio asked incredulously. "Everyone knows there's a serial killer going about."
"Well, I'm sorry that I forgot in my excitement!" Rainy exclaimed, their need to defend themselves outweighing the surprise of seeing the blond.
Dio glared down at them, "Your birthday isn't until two weeks."
"I have other things to be celebrating! Not that you'd know, seeing as you just disappeared on me!"
"I don't owe you any accountability," Dio replied haughtily.
"Then why are you here?"
Dio laughed mockingly, "You think I am here for you? No, I am here for him," he pointedly kicked the man on the ground, "Your appearance is mere coincidence."
Rainy gaped in offence, "Him?! What do you want with some random guy?"
"This here," another kick to the man's ribs, "is what the papers have begun to call Jack the Ripper."
"That doesn't explain what you're doing here," Rainy remarked. Hunting down serial killers was more something Jonathan would be doing, especially after reading one too many Doyle books.
"That's for me to know," Dio hefted the body on one of his shoulders, "and for you to not find out about."
With that, he turned and strutted off. It was kind of impressive, really, that he could still strut like that with the added weight.
"That sounds like a challenge!" Rainy yelled at his retreating back but went ignored.
—
The smart thing to do now would probably have been to get back to the university and phone the Pendleton estate to warn her friends about the first lead on Dio's whereabouts they had gotten all year.
The smart thing to do now would not have included heading to the bar they were planning to go to and grabbing a drink before trying to rat out Dio on their own.
But alas, here we are.
Slightly tipsy, Rainy managed to get a hold of a horse–they had stolen it–and then, after struggling to get on to it for quite a while, ridden it to a small town south of London.
Getting back off the horse was comparatively easier, though also more painful. Picking herself up from the ground, Rainy dusted herself off and looked around. Then they saw the ginormous dark castle at the end of town. There was no way Dio wasn't in there.
Clamouring towards the castle, Rainy started to notice an abundance of undead creatures milling about.
"That fucker has been raising corpses without me!"
The hobbit conveniently managed to sneak past any possible guards until they found Dio in a lavish bedroom.
"Is that a cat with a human face?" Rainy questioned, "If anyone ever finds out about this vampire shit, I really hope that concept gets brought up again."
Said cat made a weird meowing sound that clearly came from human vocal cords before running off into the castle.
"Or maybe not."
Dio rose a brow, "How exactly did you find me?"
"I followed the sound of betrayal!"
"... Are you drunk?"
"No, I'm slightly tipsy and mostly offended that you just became a vampire on your own like that! It's best friends etiquette that if one of you turns into a vampire, you offer to turn the other one. Everyone knows that!"
"We're not friends and that's stupid."
"If we're not friends, why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Rainy challenged.
Dio stepped towards them, his huge body looming over them, "Are you trying to tempt me?"
"Fuck you, Dio!"
The vampire grinned, "Why don't you fuck me yourself? Scared?"
"You wish!"
"Maybe I do," he challenged.
Neither of them was backing down now. They were way too competitive for that. Luckily, there was a bed right next to them.
—
"Were you serious about becoming a vampire?" Dio asked as they lay side by side in bed.
"Well, no, I still have things to be doing. It would suck not to be able to go in the sun for that. It's about the principle of the matter. Oh, that reminds me, I gotta go. I had another idea."
"An idea?"
"Yes," Rainy started to collect the clothes that were still strewn across the bed.
"By the way, JoJo is definitely coming for your ass soon."
"I highly doubt he's as interested in my ass as you are," the blond stretched out on the bed like a cat in the sun.
"You were the one who offered!" Rainy defended themself, "Anyway, I'm leaving. Good luck, I guess."
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" Dio called after them.
—
Talking about vampires had reminded Rainy about the power she had mastered for fighting them. Hamon was essentially a life force, was it not?
When they got back to their lab, they began to test their theory.
Summoning only a little hamon at first, they began pushing it into the unanimated body on the table, increasing the output little by little.
Just as Rainy was about to give up, the figure suddenly twitched.
"Fuck yes!" they continued pushing hamon into the body.
The person on the table suddenly shot up with a gasp. Rainy watched in awe as they slowly blinked open their eyes, trying to look around them.
Then their eyes laded on Rainy. They tilted their head, "Fuck?"
Rainy laughed. That was their son, alright.
As Rainy slowly started to teach this new being about the world around them, neither of them were aware that Speedwagon had just discovered Dio's whereabouts himself.
Not being able to locate the hobbit, Speedwagon left with Jonathan and Baron Zeppeli to fight Dio and his zombie minions, but Rainy would only learn the details of that fight many years later.