A sudden gasp and his consciousness returned.

His ears echoed, his mind raced and his body ached. What took seconds felt like minutes for him to move.

'Where am I?'

Faint bass thumped on brick walls nearby and in a poorly lit back alley. He pushed to rise on his feet but fell back on the ground. 'Ugh, It's like I got hit by a truck.`

He strengthened his resolve and finally got to his feet-

Only to meet a Grimm sight.

A pale man with sheer horror on his face. All color drained out of him. Pure white eyes and not A single exhale or inhale

A body, a dead body. A pruned corpse.

Adrenaline rushed through his veins. No thoughts to think or question the sight any longer. He backpedal two steps, two steps to know he can move and so he could run on the third.

A firm hand on his back stopped his attempt. He remained frozen in place and did not turn his head. Mugged? Trafficked? So many things came to mind about what this was.

Then, a feminine giggle was made. His captor or enemy was a woman.

"Relax." A gentle push sent his body forward. "If we wanted to kill you, we would have long before you woken up."

'We? As in more than one person?'

"My sister said you can relax, so relax." A different voice chimed in and walked into the light to join her sister.. "Go ahead and turn around, slowly." The blonde hair student couldn't shake the unease but knew he needed to do as they said. Slowly, he faced them, hands far from his body to show he was not going to run or defend himself. There, he saw two women with an uncanny resemblance. The only distinct difference was the length of their hair and how they dressed. One wore a red dress and the other dressed in white

"Um..." He said, unsure what to follow it up with.. In that pause, he glanced over at the corpse and then back at the twins. "I don't...I don't know what's going on or why I am here, did I do something wrong?" The woman dressed in red chose to take the lead. She showed her hand that was hidden behind her back. A rusty revolver.

"You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, nothing more. This man owed us a lot of money. He thought he could be a street criminal and prey on idiots to repay his debts. He saw an easy victim, and pulled you into an alley and threatened you with an unloaded gun." She cocks the weapon at him, the muzzle aimed between his eyes. She pulled the trigger and a loud click filled the air but not a single bullet was fired.. She continued to squeeze the trigger until she grew bored, and chucked it at the corpse. The loud thud and no response made his muscles tightened at how little care they had for the dead. "Have to admit, you did buy into it hard."

The memory trickled into his brain before he slept. He got accepted into Beacon Academy. His transcripts were forged as he was severely under qualified for the task as a huntsman. Even his body language screamed innocent and at bare minimum, a naive foreigner. Pulled aside, a hand covered his mouth to silence his cries..He couldn't even muster up the courage when stared down the barrel of a gun in a dark alley. He saw something, a blur, but that same blur led to total darkness.

Jaune connected the pieces but one item remained unclear. Why is he still alive? They could have killed him too if they wanted.

"What happens now" he asked with soft eyes.. The siblings glanced at one another and communicated without a word spoken. They then focused back on him.

"What do you do when someone saves you from a bad predicament?" The long-haired sister asked ticked away while he stayed quiet. "Well? We're waiting?"

"Be grateful and try to repay them?" He took their cue to speak again.

"Correct" chimed the short haired twin. "Now, we'll let you decide what's a good payback for letting you live?" Both twins had their arms crossed, a small smirk on their lips. They held all the leverage on him. He had to bargain for why he should live. Jaune's thoughts raced for anything that may satisfy them. What could he do to ensure he doesn't end up like the dead man nearby?

"Um..." More and more thoughts raced but nothing seemed good. He wasn't a huntsman yet, he couldn't offer his services as a fighter or street skills. Time ticked louder and without warning, blurted out what came to mind. "I can be your personal servant!"

"..." The twins stood there in silence, mouths slightly open at the concept of a young man as their servant. "And what could you do that we can't do ourselves?"

"I'll do anything. I didn't come to Beacon so I can die here." His voice had more resolve now. He didn't believe this was where his story would end and it showed in his eyes. "I'll do anything you asked, cooking, cleaning, running errands, whatever it is, I'll say yes, I need to fulfill my dreams of being a huntsman and I wouldn't dare tell anyone about this. You have my word." The two sisters mulled over the offer, doing their best not to laugh at the desperation but couldn't deny, the desire to live was…exciting.

"Okay, why not. We only have two conditions, as per me and my sister Melanie decided upon. One, if you were to tell anyone about this, you, your family, and anyone you know, will be paying for your actions. I'm sure you realized that by now." The one adorned in the red-dress approached him and extended her hand, asking for his in return. "The second thing is, whenever we call you, we want you there within the hour, and if you can't make it, well, it better be a very good reason." Jaune shook hands with the dangerous woman.

"My name's Melanie. What's yours?" He believed all was good, and he gave a sigh of relief. He flashed a smile for the first time and thought he was finally out of the clear.

"My name's Jaune Arc."

Silence

After he muttered his full name, the tension in the night air grew thick and drew a stern look from the sisters. "D-did I say something wrong?" The grip on his hand tightened and she pulled his hand towards her face.

"Hold still." She pulled a sharp knife from her back pocket and now Jaune feared he pushed the wrong button.

"I'm sorry if-"

"I said hold still, don't move and don't talk." She flipped his hand so his palm faced the ceiling. The sheer strength made Jaune wince in how little work she needed to overpower him. She drew the sharp blade over his palm and allowed the edge to cut open a wound. Blood trickled down his skin and onto the floor. She then rubbed her fingers onto the mark until the tips were stained.. She brought it to her lips and tasted the young man's blood. Jaune was beyond disbelief and once again, didn't know if he made a mistake.

"Well Miltia?"

"Oh yeah, he's definitely an Arc, by far the richest blood I've ever tasted in my life."

"T-tasted?" At this point, he could feel he wasn't even in the room with them anymore and was an accessory for them.

"We got ourselves a nice gift-wrapped butler to feed on? My, what a good decision to stop by Vale tonight. To think we were going to kill him anyway." The long-haired sibling approached him now. She stood next to her sister and stared into his eyes. "Your blood changes everything. On top of these two conditions, we will need your blood from time to time. Us vampires rarely find a good source to feed on without them dying. Now, here we have the best Remnant can offer."

'Vampires? What in the hell are they talking about? Wasn't that some myth? Or a folklore to scare children? Do Vampires actually exist?'

None of this made sense to Jaune. Now instead of Grimm, he has to worry about other mythological creatures that lived in the shadows?! Melanie in the meanwhile pulled out a scroll from her pocket, "What's your number Jaune? That way we can keep in touch."

Still shocked and tense from this scene, he took a glance at the body on the floor and realized how this man died. It wasn't through blows, or gunshots, no. That's a kind gesture compared to reality. They drained his blood and life dry. He turned his attention back to the both of them and played along.

He only wanted to be a huntsman, and here he is thrusted into a new world and agreement before he stepped foot on campus.

The Malachite twins held all the power, and Jaune was their puppet. Small cuts nicked his flesh and gave way to blood for the eager vampires. They were merciful to not kill him and have him overly fatigued but at what cost? He could feel himself grow light-headed. Now, he had two hungry vampires who were one phone call away for a feast.

That's what happened last night. Today, Jaune tried to block the memory out and focus. He's on a plane with other freshmen like himself for his first day at Beacon Academy. He steadied himself near a garbage bin and his hand thick in white clothed bandages. That scene played over and over, the fear, guilt, and anxiety pushed him over the edge.

His stomach churned and blew chunks until nothing was left. Everyone seemed happy, excited to be here and he felt death over his shoulder. The rookies were competent, proud and filled with joy to be enrolled in Beacon and he lied to get in. They could fight back, he had no one to rely on. None of them were aware of what lurked underneath Vale. He leaned against the wall to take deep breaths. He wished last night was a fever nightmare. It won't be long until he arrived at Beacon. Maybe, just maybe, he had a bad dream and hurt himself while asleep? Randomly gripped a glass cup tightly and caused his hand to be hurt? Surely that's more plausible than vampires.

His pocket buzzed after the thought. It was his scroll and someone messaged him.. He pulled his scroll out to see a message from an unknown contact.

'Thanks a lot for the feast Arc. Expect a call from us very soon." This was shortly followed by a heart icon. It was one of the sisters, not able to wait 24 hours post is real, very real, and has no clear way for him in sight. His scroll buzzed once more, but this time showed it was a call from the same number. He hesitated, but the consequences were too great. He answered and brought the scroll to his ear.

"Tonight, seven PM, downtown Vale. Come" Six words and the call was over. His hands returned to the metal bin, forced to glance at last night's food. He had nothing more to spew but his mind didn't care as he dried heaved. "Not one day and I regret everything" He hid his face from others who laughed or sneered at his predicament. All thought he was airsick or some spineless were true but none knew what he experienced and what lied ahead. The same question looped over and over in his head through the madness as the plane began to dock.

What did I get myself into?