Jaune Arc: Vampire Hunter

Chapter 1: Lament of the Innocent

"In an era long past, as monarchies weakened, local feudal lords grew in power under the watchful eyes of the twin gods. But in a secluded part of the kingdom that would become Vale, serving a different type of Lord a group of knights became the guardians of peace. In this age the one company that stood above everyone else was the one lead by two men" soft words echoed the empty studio as pale fingers trailed over the pages of a book so ancient that the pages resembled something akin to leather.

The only reason that it had not faded to dust was due to the magic imbued in the tome, the figure that was reading this book leaned back on the chair as a coup of wine was poured "The leader was Leon Belmont, courageous and fearless, in combat there was no one like him and the other was…" an amused smile made its way into the lips of the reader.

"Erased, gone from history huh? Oh strategist of no name, what did you do?" the light seemed to flicker making the figure stand up. Opening the door to the studio and moving up the stairs the lights began to dim as they briefly illuminated the face of the young woman. Blonde hair that cascaded down to her shoulders and brilliant blue eyes that shone with the fire of determination.

Julia Arc pushed open the door to the room and frowned at the noise, the generator was running low on power again. She still had some fuel but she would need to make a trip to a city soon, if the Grimm had not gotten to them first but that was a worry for another day.

"You have One missed call from M O M" her scroll announced unceremoniously as she was finished fixing her current problem. This made Julia raise an eyebrow, it had not been that long since she spoke with her. Maybe something had happened, now a little concerned she dialed the number "Mom I saw your call, need something?"

A soft gasp and the sound of things being moved reached Julia's ears "Sweetie, oh thank Oum you picked. Did you see the news?"

"Not really, I haven gotten the time" she had been absorbed in the tomes that the old castle had to offer if she was being completely honest. "Right, after you ran away from home Jaune followed"

A pit formed in her stomach "Is he all right?"

"I don't know, your father tracked him down after and he found out that he was accepted at Beacon" this made her blink in surprise "Really? Ermm good for him?"

This made her mother chuckle "Oh we are both proud believe me, your father and I are both hunters don't you forget, but that's not why I am calling. Beacon was attacked and someone is posting videos online and I saw something that… well do you remember what I told you about grandpa?"

This made her narrow her eyes "Other than the fact that he owned this castle and another few things, no"

"The stories, the monsters" Julia felt a sense of unease build within her "Y-yeah…"-"is there something in that old place about a giant skeleton, purple flames and a giant scythe"

Death

Julia had to sit down on the nearby couch to steady herself "N-not that I remember, I can look it up. Is Jaune hurt?"-"We don't know, oh I am so worried but your father says that if he really wants to live the life of a hunter we need to let him spread his wings but… oh I know I am probably just exaggerating but that thing sounds like something your grandfather would write about. Could you please check for me sweetie?"

"Of course… bye mom, I will send you what I find out as soon as possible… love ya" the blonde girl hung up her scroll and darted back into the depths of the castle, pushing past the studio the girl opened a secret passageway to the catacombs that rested bellow the basement. Casting a minor spell she illuminated the room and ran towards the towering bookcases of forbidden knowledge.

Her ancestor Soleil Belmont had been the one to begin the long research of the unknow, illustrating and describing things found on journals of long-gone heroes. She did not have to search for long the creature that her mother had described to her, in bold red letters penned by Simon Belmont.

Short and to the point the description simply read as "Death itself, dark flames and his scythe are his weapons. I felt my soul almost being torn when facing him" there was no denying it, this was one of the worst case scenarios, if a being such as Death had come out of hiding that meant that something bad was happening.

"Jaune…" she needed to get to Vale and fast. But not unarmed, not when their foe had no problem showing itself under the light of a full moon. Reaching into the floor she pulled up a hidden display case, a large amount of weapons where hidden inside. An axe, a dagger and many more means to kill the undead.

But above all a humble weapon rested on a red cushion, a large whip. Simple in its design and plain to look at. Reaching for it Julia felt her finger being zapped as her hands approached the weapon, finally grabbing it Julia frowned.

Too heavy to use, nothing like the spells she had been learning. But this was not time to be doubting herself, she needed to do this for herself as much as she needed to do it for her brother. She had denounce the name Arc and it was time that Julia Belmont walked the path her ancestors had walked before.

With determination she grabbed more items she thought might be useful she locked everything again and began to walk out of the forgotten castle, it was really something amazing if she was being completely honest. The garden remained green and the walls all seemed to be just fine even if a little ancient, it was a miracle.

One granted by this God that the Belmonts all seemed to worship, but for now she bid her new home a quiet goodbye as she hopped on the dirt bike she had "acquired" and set up with one destination in mind.

"Beacon Academy" the trip would be long, after she was in one of the many islands scattered across Sanus, but she got here. The trip to civilization would be easier, she hoped.

The infirmary in Beacon always seemed to have activity going on, from reckless students that pushed themselves to Aura exhaustion to seasoned hunters that had to make sacrifices all gathered here to be treated. Yesterdays attack made it even more active as the nurses and doctors all ran from room to room to best assist those that had suffered bruises and broken bones, but no one had died.

Among those that roamed the halls one small child could be seen darting from place to place, rose petals following her every accelerated step. Ruby Rose was worried, she knew that Pyrrah had already checked up on their mutual friend but even if the tall red head had already done so she was worried.

"Come on Rubes, if I where some blonde dork where would I be" she muttered to herself as she skillfully avoided everyone that was passing her by. Right at the end of the hallway she finally found what she was looking for "JAUNE!" opening the door she made the blonde boy jump in fright "Ruby?! You scared me man"

Giggling she darted next to his side and grinned "Oh what scared of me now?"

"HAH! The only scary thing about your ruby is how much you explode things" Jaune blocked some faked punches thrown his way with a chuckle, the patient gown doing very little to soften the blows "Hmmph and here I was worried about you, if you are being this mean then that means that you are fine and I can leave"

Jaune held her wrist "No, wait don't leave me here. I am bored out of my mind, you and Pyrrah are the only people who have bothered to check up on me today" Ruby let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her head "Yeaaah about that, we are not allowed to come see you. They let Pyrrah in because she is your partner and it was like just one time, they have sent us away. Yang sent you flowers"

"Really?... and did Weiss send something" Ruby rolled her eyes and sat next to him on the hospital bed "No, she didn't and don't think for a second that this means something with Yang" Jaune chuckled "Oh I don't think so, I think her deal is with Blake you know" Ruby blinked as if confused "Really?"

Jaune grinned "Just call it a hunch, you know how it be a ladies man such as myself know a thing or two" he said as he pushed his hair back making Ruby stick her tongue out at him in disgust. There was silence and the two laughed a bit "I wish they could just let me out and let everyone know that I am fine"

"And they don't let you because?" Ruby inquired as she tilted her head to the side, Jaune shrugged "Don't really have all the details honestly, they told that it is for the good of the other patients… that thing struck us with its scythe but other than hurting like you cant believe it did nothing to me"

Ruby hummed as she brought a hand to her chin "I mean the others seemed to be sleeping, I don't think there is anything wrong with them" as the two of them continued chatting away they noticed how their breath began to form fog around their mouths as an unnatural cold fell upon them. Confused Ruby scooted closer to Jaune as the two wondered what was going on, Jaune stood up and walked to the door as the staff all seemed to be as confused as they were "Hey, is everything okay?"

"Stay in your room please! We don't know where this cold is coming from but…" the doctor was cut off mid-sentence as the door to one of the rooms was thrown at him smashing him against the wall. One by one the door where all smashed to bits as the large corridor filled with the same fog Jaune had seen before, the patients that had been sleeping walked outside.

Their white and their mouths hanging open, Jaune and Ruby took some steps back as they watched in horror as they al turned to him and began to chant in unison "Help us… free us!"

"W-what do we do Jaune?" Ruby muttered to him as Jaune watched as they began to take slow step towards them, the doctors all tried their best to restrain them but they where all pushed off and thrown away with supernatural strength that their auraless bodies should not possess.

They all looked at him begging for help, but what could he do to help them?

"BEGONE SPIRIT!"

Blue flames erupted all around them as an unknow figure entered the room, Jaune looked past the crumbling bodies in shock "Julia?!" running pas the now idle people Julia jumped into her brothers arms and smiled "You are fine… good" she let go as she turned to look at the people who all seemed to be regaining consciousness. She nodded at her work and turned to her brother and decided to answer the question on his lips "A simply exorcism"

"SINCE WHEN CAN YOU DO THAT?! Where have you been? Do you have any idea…" Julia raised her hand and let out a sigh, the cold was back. Reaching into her bag for a weapon Julia stopped mid air as her hand seemed to be stopped by something. Jaune watched in horror as red mark appeared on his sisters arm as she struggled to get free from whatever was hurting her.

"Ruby get the headmaster!" Ruby nodded and ran towards the exit but stopped for a second "What about you?"-"I will buy time go!" Julia then was abruptly yanked out of the air and slammed against the roof and the back down making her gasp for air. Jaune watched as something fell from her bag as she pointed at him and then at the weapon, he didn't have to be told twice what to do.

Jaune grasped the whip on his hands as a powerful wave of energy passed all around his body and his eyes where opened. A large spirit with many head and many arms held his sister down as its deformed jaw unhinged and tried to bite down on her, thinking quickly he clumsily moved his hands and tried his best to hurt the beast.

The whip struck against the skink of the beast as a flash of light erupted around them and it seemed that its disguise was broken as the nurses screamed in horror at the repulsive creature, the blob of flesh turned to him and groaned in what seemed to be pain "Free us"

Jaune watched as Julia scrambled to his side and reached for a book she had on her "We must kill it, it's a weak course left behind by Death. An amalgamation of the souls of the tormented" Jaune nodded as he struggled to use his new weapon, Julia began to chant in an unknow language as her eyes turned golden, lifting her hand towards it she yelled in a language that Jaune did not recognize.

"Abite spiritum!" the creature seemed to churn at the words but then it spoke back with the voices of many "Non, non es dominus meus" Julia glared and closed the book "Tunc mortem elegisti"

A large fireball was casted from the book as the beast burned and began to advance towards them with a speed that no mortal possessed, Jaune acted quickly and used the whip to slash at the biggest head of the beast. Blue blood erupted as the flames seemed to pool inside him from the wound instinctually Jaune struck again at the large red eye that was exposed on its belly.

Julia made a motion with her hand "Lamina lucis" a white flash followed and the creature was split in half. Its grotesque corpse twitched as the blood of the many souls finally was freed from the torment. "Julia… I don't… what is going on?"

"You look good with the whip, suits you better than a sword in all honesty" she said as she ignored his question and proceeded to poke the creature and gather some of its guts into a jar. Jaune shook his head and grabbed her shoulder "No Julia listen to me, you have been gone for months! No one knew where you went, and I was worried sick; now there are monster and… souls and things and now you are here WHAT…" Julia placed a hand on her brothers lips.

She smiled "Hush, its not like you can judge me Mr. Hunter, ran away with father's sword huh?" Jaune let out a sigh "It's what an Arc must do."

"Hmmph please, that name does not carry the weight you think it does. Not compared to our mother's name anyway" Julia stared at the beast "Our legacy was not born from a cradle but from a coffin and its time that we pick up the work that our elders abandoned."

A/N: Thank you for reading, I imagine Julia to be like a feminine version of Leon Belmont, works with the narrative I am working with. Oh also if you spot any mistakes please let me know, thanks!

Latin translations:

Abite spiritum-Begone spirit

Non, non es dominus meus- No, you're not my master

Tunc mortem elegisti-Then you chose death

Lamina lucis- Blades of light