"Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it's set a rolling it must increase." Charles Caleb Colton
Bold: Important note to the story
Italic: Important message to a specific character or event
"Message" Inhuman Speech
"Message" Speech
'Message' Thought's
Boom! Noise/sound effect
PS is a world of monsters and men; where even the most stalwart of souls will eventually break from the horrors they witness.
Moral ambiguity reigns supreme and ambitions decide your destiny.
Agendas and vendettas line the weave of causality and exact tolls upon all.
All with a sea of blood seeping in-between the cracks of reason.
So I will ask but a single question while you read this story:
IS WHAT YOU WANT WORTH THE PRICE?
Scene Segment: Worries of Past and Future
Scene Break: Yang
Grumbles and tired yawns traveled up and down the halls of Beacon as the students made their way to their classes. They haven't had a wink of sleep since the day before, but sacrifices were being made by Ozpin for the monster hidden within it's underground dorm.
As for the blonde bombshell that was said monster's sister? Many emotions tumbled as an overwhelming tempest within her mind and soul; the pain fresh as when Ruby had been revealed as the leader of a Covert Ops team.
Betrayal, grief, anxiety, curiosity, worry, fear, confusion...and red-hot anger. When Summer had died in the line of duty, Yang took over her stepmother's duties to care for Ruby.
For years the two of them had trusted each other on a level only siblings could. So for Ruby to never mention the immense changes she has been going through?
It hurt. It was as if Ruby had stabbed her in the back and laughed doing it. When their eyes met in that moment, where lilac met silver, it was as if Ruby had been replaced with a complete stranger!
Never had the small rose been able to handle crowds well...nor give a performance so wondrously theatrical. That bow; the one that made the crowd go wild? That was something that Ruby could've never pulled off before.
For so long her little sister had struggled with anxiety; now it was miraculously gone to preform an act so rousing? Reality was beginning to seem to be a lie, a dark joke being played on the brawler.
The sable hair Ruby now possessed didn't have the trademark red highlights anymore as well. When had that happened? Why hadn't Ruby told her?
A pang ran through Yang's bleeding heart at the thought that she had lost her connection to her baby sister.
Beside her, Yang's new teammates kept throwing her concerned glances while she chewed on her fingernail; a bad habit she formed as a child when stress wormed it's way into her life. All four of them were walking towards their first class: Grimm studies.
Despite the fact she didn't appear to look the most approachable out of them, Weiss's voice was the first one to break through the air of tension with a heavy Atlesian accent tinging every word.
"Yang? Are you all right?" Startled out of her reverie by her name being said out loud, Yang looked at her snow-themed teammate with a slight sigh.
"...No, not really. That girl who was named as the leader of team RPBR? That's my half sister. There was an accident a week or so ago where she went to Vale and we found her covered in blood." What a sight that had been at the time for a worried sister and father to see.
Every time Yang closed her eyes; that sight would come back from the void of darkness. When Ruby had ripped Yang's hand off her shoulder, it pained the blonde to see her sister so upset at whatever had happened.
Meanwhile as Yang was reliving that night once more within her mind, Nora had stopped bouncing around on her heels as she had been doing for the entire walk to class until now, a serious look had overtaken the hyperactive redhead.
"Blood? Did you notify the authorities to investigate?" Jumping a bit as Nora brought her out of her reverie, Yang shook her head slightly since the thought hadn't occurred to her until now.
"No. It was Ozpin himself that had let us know something had even happened. Whatever it was, it made Ozpin give Ruby an invitation to join Beacon even though she's only fifteen." Three different looks of surprise were thrown her way at the unexpected revelation.
It was rare for a civilian child to get bumped up a grade or two in a normal school...so why would this particular person get such a honor at Beacon? A school that trained hunters. There was something fishy about whatever Ruby Rose had gone through that night.
Within Weiss's hidden shirt pocket she had sewn into the uniform, the one thing she refused to take away from her person at all costs, suddenly grew heavier at the questions coursing through her mind.
An image of the charred black bones within her father's lab resurfaced in the heiress's mind; the ones that always crept her out when she saw how human they looked.
"Ever since then, she's acted incredibly strange; always standoffish, going off on her own to do something in the middle of the night. Something happened to her that I can't figure out." Whatever that incident was, it had been hellish for Yang to try and piece together.
Things never seemed to click in place no matter how much she mused about the possibilities...an infernal never-ending puzzle. The normal explanations an older sibling would make for the younger's odd behavior didn't make sense given the context.
A lover? There was no sign of that; especially given Ruby's newfound hostile attitude. A rebellious phase? That had come and gone not long after Ruby became a pre-teen dealing with hormones.
"It's like reality flipped onto it's head and I can't make sense of how or why..." It had all started that night...so perhaps Yang should start investigating what happened and where?
Trace back Ruby's steps and she might finally get the clues she needs to figure everything out. That night Ruby had been in Vale and somehow had come across a situation that lead to her being covered in blood.
Yang doubted that Ruby had actually killed someone in cold-blood, so where had all that blood come from? ...It seems that she might need to take a trip to Vale soon...
"If you can't understand it; focus on the here and now. We have classes, so learn what you can and take the time you need to process it all." Once again being the voice of reason many wouldn't expect her to be, Nora's voice cut through the chatter of the students surrounding them, drawing Yang's attention back to the ginger girl.
Nora was right. There was nothing she could do right here and now to find answers; so instead she'd focus on her studies to let her worried mind rest.
"Running yourself ragged for something you couldn't stop won't help anyone...I would know..." This time it was Jaune who spoke, his voice a hoarse whisper while there was a faraway look in his eyes.
Unseen to anyone but himself; images of fire and corpses strewn through a broken town came back to his mind with an animalistic roar that he would NEVER forget. All of this went unnoticed except his words, of which the attention was brought back to Yang as gave a tired sigh.
"Thanks, you guys..." The team of four walked through the doorway to their first class ever at Beacon; a gate that, at the time, would change them more than they would ever know.
Scene Segment: Begin The Blood-hunt
Scene Break: ?
Whispers ran throughout a room without light. Some of the voices could pass as human, a throng of male and female voices that chattered without end...yet there were a few that sounded strange.
Hissing voices that one could picture as a snake talking, or rumbling lows with butchered words...and these were but a handful of many. There was too little light in this location to place who or what was speaking, it was just a massive blanket of darkness obscuring all except the noise.
A lull in the chatter began to form as a series of footsteps, heavy and loud, brought the attention to a newcomer among the gathered group.
"Ahh, you're late to the gathering my friend! What took you so long, Anselm?" A light and slightly annoyed male voice broke through what little remained of the previously scattered conversations.
"Just a new project of mine I was keeping an eye on. It's been both a hassle to keep track of and an interesting plaything..." Anselm's vague answer caused a murmur to come from the crowd, and unseen to all, his fanged teeth curved into a small smile.
"Care to tell what such a project is that you would dare to disregard the summons of your liege and your duties to the blood court?" Now a hostile tone was hidden in the first man's words as he accused Anselm of abandoning his obligations.
There was a slight rustle as Anselm adjusted his shirt to distract his peers for but a few seconds, giving himself enough time to have enough anticipation for his response.
"Did you know the argentums are still alive?" An overwhelming uproar filled the building as dozens of voices screeched, screamed, and howled their evident disbelief and displeasure at his response.
"They can't be! The last of them died ten years ago!" A shrill female voice was heard among the many voices.
"Lies! They're dead, we made sure of that!" A guttural semi-human voice snarled in a almost deafening growl.
"ENOUGH! Do you have proof that the Silver ones still live?" The assumed liege's question brought an end to the roar of voices as Anselm chuckled in a sinister way.
"One of them found me as I was feeding, a mere child less than twenty winters old, and tried to fight me...they were forced to run after I overwhelmed them." Upon the revelations that Anselm just delivered, a silence that was far more deafening than the hollering prior filled the space.
The argentums were among the few humans who could actually destroy them, along with other denizens of the night, and had been hunted to extinction. The last one that had been known; was Summer Rose, who died in a blood hunt orchestrated by a few of those in this building.
What Anselm wouldn't tell them, though, was that he had turned this young Argentum into a vampire like them all. When eternity became your muse, you had to find ways to keep yourself occupied, and Anselm was partial to causing mayhem among both mortals and denizens of the night as his hobby.
Better that than restraining himself to his work as the web-weaver of this circle of vampires.
They'd look for the child, that was certain, but he'd have his fun by keeping the most important details from his brethren. If the child could learn to harness the gifts she had been given, gather power and allies...it might prove to be the interesting thing of the century, if not millennia.
Especially given this was likely Summer Rose's child based on the resemblance he saw between the two...
Turning on his feet despite the loud orders telling him to come back; Anselm chortled as he found himself excited for what the future may bring.
Scene Segment: Ashes to Ashes
Scene Break: ?
Amber eyes stared at a screen flashing with page after page of data and information while a long slender finger scrolled through multiple pages with every flick. A small frown creased thin pink lips as the jumbled mess of data slowly formed into a coherent picture within her head.
Disappearances and increasing homicide rates within Vale painted a grim picture for her plans. When one of the missing souls were found; it was always a gruesome scene and they were entirely devoid of blood in their deceased bodies.
Movement behind her made her head tilt slightly as her minions rustled behind her, a male and female human that she had made loyal to her. They didn't know what the signs she was looking at meant, they were too inexperienced to know.
Mercury Black, the grey haired bulky male; his father would've known had Mercury not killed him for being an abusive bastard. Betrayal can never come from your enemies...and you think the greatest assassin of the age, Marcus Black, would've known such a common phrase...
The female was Emerald Suistri, a tan-skinned girl with hair the same color of her namesake and crimson red eyes. Her usefulness came from her semblance; the ability to implant false images in her opponents mind even in combat.
Alas, only Cinder herself could figure out what all this disjointed information pointed to: the Vale vampire Klatch was growing in strength once more. Roughly two centuries ago, in the time just before the great war, Vale's Twilight Hunters had eradicated a majority of the faction.
Oh yes, Cinder Fall knew about the hidden side of the world, her mistress had made sure of that...
Her mistress had bade her to bring Vale to it's knees at all costs to secure the prize they both wanted. Now the problem of the Klatch growing once more posed a threat to those plans...
So she would have to plan to decimate them at the same time as the Valian Hunters. A difficult task, but not one that would be impossible. A final flick of her fingers turned off the dataslate and she turned her chair around to look at her minions, both of which quickly stood at attention when they noticed her looking at them.
"Mercury, Emerald...there's been a slight miscalculation in the plans. Mercury, I want you to meet up with Torchwick and act as a bodyguard for him. Emerald, I'm sending you to a place within the slums that I want you to recon on." A haughty smile graced Mercury's lips as he stood up from the box he sat upon and walked away.
Cinder had seen that Mercury was itching for another fight soon and this would be a good excuse for him to get a chance at that. With the vampires active once more; Roman Torchwick, one of the important pieces to her plan, could be at risk if one of the blood-suckers got cheeky.
'That boy is probably happy to get a chance for some action...' As long as it doesn't jeopardize the mission, Cinder, frankly, did not care if the boy cracked a few skulls.
Emerald was more reluctant at her task if her fidgeting gave any indication.
"What is it Emerald?" The cold bite of her voice made Emerald flinch and hesitantly open her mouth to speak.
"What should I even look for, Ma'am?" Ah...that was a slight issue that needed to be addressed.
Neither of them should know exactly what had Cinder on edge. So, in order to assuage their concerns, Cinder would use the tried and true method of weaving truth and lies together.
"There's been a concerning rise of murders within Vale. I want you to watch for suspicious individuals and report them back to me. For Vale to fall, we need to make sure this isn't accidently traced back to us or the Fang." The tension bled out of Emerald's body as she took this to be one of average missions, especially for her.
Mercury was the muscle of the group while Emerald tended to be the scout and assassin. If there was an area that Cinder wanted intel on; Emerald is second to none at getting that information. A quick nod from the lithe girl to affirm her orders was all she did before following the same path Mercury took out of their little hideout.
Turning back towards the little makeshift desk detailing the outline of her immediate plans, Cinder looked up towards a small window just in front of the desk. Outside shone the broken moon, glinting with it's beautiful and ominous silver light.
A small shiver wormed it's way down the amber-eyed girl's spine from the eerie atmosphere the celestial satellite gave off; cold, foreboding, and otherworldly.
Cinder merely hoped that all these complications wouldn't get in the way of what she was owed; of what would be hers by right of strength.
Scene Segment: Strained Souls
Scene Break: Ruby
As the dying light of day soon fell past the horizon and the chill of night came in; a pair silver eyes flittered open to see a stone roof above her.
Ruby Rose didn't get up right away from the bed she laid in, instead choosing to think about the last week and the events that had happened. In one, single night, she had been damned to walk Remnant for eternity until her second death. She was a vampire; a being that could only sustain itself by feeding on the blood of the living.
All the new dark and savage impulses had tormented her at first until she revealed the lie of her life. When her mother had died in the line of duty, the young and psychopathic Rose had adopted her mother's personality out of grief towards losing one of the few things she had truly cared about.
So when that façade was ripped away less than a week ago, Ruby decided to stop resisting her condition and true nature. The cursed Rose blossomed fully and began to act on her own selfish desires.
Before the revelations of who she was, the younger Ruby Rose was too altruistic for her own good; often giving away pieces of herself to those who gave nothing back in return...
What good could come of denying the cold reality she found herself in anyway? She was stuck like this forever...so why not accept it that couldn't be changed and learn to like it? If Ruby was damned, she might as well rack up the list of her sins to stain her soul with.
It's not like it wasn't already soaked with the blood of two innocents...
So let the world know her name from the war she'll wage and let hell itself grovel in awe before her when she inevitably dies.
A soft groan tore Ruby's attention away from her moralistic thoughts and towards the older girl entangled on her legs while laying her head on Ruby's stomach. With the soft hum of the overhead light hanging on the ceiling illuminating the room, Ruby found herself lifting her head slightly to study her partner.
Pyrrha was undeniably a beautiful girl for her age. Soft white skin a few shades darker than Ruby's own that glowed with fervor, a rounded face with small green eyes tucked in behind a few strands of long red hair that was splayed out over the both of them...it was an alluring sight.
Both of them were still in the clothes from the initiation ceremony, which in Pyrrha's case meant her battle attire...which admittedly left very little to the imagination. A very short skirt was all that covered her lower modesty while a tight armored coreset covered her upper body sans her chest.
Silver eyes trailed their way up Pyrrha's body past her captivating bosom and to the neck she had drank from the night prior. A burning sensation crawled it's way up Ruby's throat as the vampiric teeth was unveiled from her mouth opening slightly.
It would be Childs-play for Ruby to restrain the hunter-in-training and devour her blood/body, but as much as the temptation told her to do it, it would run counterproductive to her plans.
'Not yet. She isn't corrupted enough for me to try something so bold...' Fighting down the yearning to bite Pyrrha once again, Ruby sat up on her bed, which lead to Pyrrha's head sliding off her stomach and onto her lap.
This quick disturbance awoke the sleeping girl as her own emerald green eyes shot open, taking more than a few seconds to adjust and take in her situation. Soft green sheets lay in front of the lethargic girl and a cold sensation was just under her left cheek...
Rolling her head to look up, Pyrrha found herself looking up at an unfamiliar figure who's lap she rested on. Bit by bit the memories of last night came back to her as a hot blush ran it's way through her cheeks.
"Morning sleep beauty, enjoying the lap of yours truly?" Nothing but a embarrassed squeak came from Pyrrha as she tried to say something, anything, to her partner.
Those silver eyes framed by sable hair made it hard for the young Mistralian to think properly, courtesy of Ruby's vampiric allure, so Pyrrha made a split-second decision to bury her head deeper into Ruby's lap to avoid more embarrassment.
Seeing the older girl do something so innocent and cute made Ruby laugh lightly. Feeling a bit mischievous after such a display, Ruby smacked Pyrrha's behind and quickly got up as another, higher pitched squeak left the redhead from the slap and loss of her lap pillow.
"Wake up everyone! We have classes soon, so get your asses into gear!" A pair of groans came from the other two occupied beds as Blake and Ren woke up with muttered curses and grumbles.
Blake's hair was just as messy as Pyrrha's from restless sleep, while Ren's could be combed with how it was shorter like Ruby's own black locks. Both amber and magenta eyes looked at Ruby with annoyance as they trudged out of bed.
"Pyrrha gets the first shower since she was up before you two." The still very mortified Pyrrha slipped off Ruby's bed and hurriedly gathered a fresh pair of clothes before locking herself in the bathroom.
Sure enough less than a minute later, the sound of water running from the shower could be heard while Ruby found herself alone with her other two teammates for the first time. Without Pyrrha around to assuage them that Ruby wouldn't attack them, a palpable tension filled the as the memory of what Ruby did to Pyrrha resurfaced in the minds of Blake and Ren.
Ren grabbed his scroll at the same time he fetched a fresh pair of clothes from his designated dresser. Quickly tapping a message to Nora, his childhood friend, the Mistralian boy sent a message to Nora asking about the state of it.
Their resident eyepatch-wearing teammate was rummaging through a small pouch, muttering to herself as she checked the contents within in. Ruby watched both of them with studious eyes as their clear distrust of her was a good sign for the future.
The veiled world hid monsters, snakes, and wicked men. That distrust would help them survive in the time to come...
Unless their distrust of her overruled the fact she was their leader.
Then she would do what she had to to survive.
"What about you, Ruby? Are you going to get a shower?" Blake's question was thrown over her back as she made a mental list of supplies she'd need to replace her disposable weaponry.
A slight sigh left Ruby's mouth at the thought of a hot shower, but it was a bad idea. Her body was dead and didn't sweat anymore, so the need for a shower was pointless besides relaxation.
"No. I'm dead, remember? I'm sure you don't want me smelling like a wet corpse, right?" There was a slight gagging noise as the putrid idea made Blake momentarily nauseous.
"I see your point." A small humorless chuckle left Ruby as she found genuine amusement at their resident feline's moment of disgust.
At the end of the less than charming conversation, the sound of running water within the bathroom stopped as Pyrrha began getting dressed within. Blake got up from her sitting position and grabbed a fresh set of clothes from her beside dresser, waiting for Pyrrha to finish getting dressed.
Ruby found herself glancing over at the shiny metallic eyepatch covering Blake's left eye, one that she didn't take off even while asleep by the looks of it. Curiosity filled the young vampire at the story behind why Blake wore it, but she doubted that Blake would tell her until she trusted Ruby more.
'What could have happened to her for her to require wearing it?' Alas, the thought was interrupted as Pyrrha came out of the bathroom and Blake went inside.
The older teen's skin was a slight pink from the heat of the shower. Blood rushed right under Pyrrha's skin and tempted Ruby to take a drink of it.
"Tch." The constant temptation that was bubbling from her throat was beginning to annoy Ruby as she turned her gaze away from her partner.
Who knew that temptation was the thing that would annoy an immortal teenage vampire? ...That was a moronic question to ask anyone with a single functioning braincell.
Instead of focusing on the source of her irritation, Ruby picked up her scroll that had miraculously not been broken in the fight against the werewolf, she looked at the class schedule that Ozpin had directly sent to her scroll.
...How he had her scroll number, she did not know. Ruby would chalk it up to his position as headmaster and access to students records.
Their first class would be one of the more important ones; Veil Hunting. It was taught by a Hunter that Ozpin must've picked himself, because Ruby didn't recognize the name from any of the well-known teams in the field.
Her old self had religiously tracked the achievements of legendary hunters, so she knew most of the most popular Hunters in all of Vale...yet, Nightingale wasn't one of them.
It would make sense given the covert nature of their work, though. Hunters were known to fight Grimm, not people or supernatural monsters. Only rumors and whatnot on the dustnet even spoke of such boogiemen that exterminated terrorist cells and investigated strange occurrences.
A loud click came from the bathroom as Blake exited and Ren went in past her. Quickly glancing at the members of her team, Ruby got the distinct notion that only Blake and herself had ever killed a...person.
Pyrrha had been brought up among fame and fortune. While that had it's own problems, mainly an overwhelming sense of loneliness, it was a far cry from knowing people died because you decided to kill them for one reason or another.
Ren, on the other hand, seem more the type who would sit back and observe silently. There was a similar sense of frigid detachment in that line of thinking to how Ruby viewed most humans anymore.
Of course, Ruby may be wrong about their male teammate. Out of the three of them, he was the most enigmatic and hard to figure out.
Ironically, most would think Blake to be the one in that case, but Ruby already knew about the darkness lurking under the skin of the Felinid. How could she not? It was so similar to her own decayed soul soaked with blood and sin...
Corruption was a terrifying force, wasn't it? A voice sweet as honey, yet more poisonous than anything natural in this world...a meticulous and sinister entity could not be found anywhere else.
Innocence and ignorance are bliss compared to knowing what lay in the hearts and souls of men.
Another click rang out as Ren came out from the bathroom dressed in uniform like everyone else. Everyone was now ready for the first day of their new lives...whether that would be a good thing remains to be seen.
Save for one with orbs of silver and dreams laced with malice.
There was one last thing Ruby wanted to add to her own ensemble, though. Unleashing the slim control she had over her shadow, she controlled it, via her will, to contort itself into a small choker around her neck.
A chill ran down the spines of the humans housed with a vampire as the shadows in the room lengthened. With every use of Ruby's shadow powers, they felt a feeling of nausea and terror at the abhorrent twisting of nature.
As a final touch to add to her ensemble, a small rose thorn medallion hung off the chain...a symbol of purity turned sour.
Turning on her heel while her teammates stared at her from behind with trepidation, Ruby unlocked the latch that held the doors to their hidden lair, swinging them open to reveal a cloudy sky barely lit by the light of the shattered moon above.
Poking her head out from the stairwell, a blast of biting cold wind ruffled the onyxian hair adorning her head.
It was a perfect night for an odious creature like herself.
Groans echoed from the trees planted in this garden outside the student dorms as another nippy breeze blew from the north. Walking out of the entrance to their dorm, Ruby stretched with a light sigh of contentment from how comfortable it felt to be out at night like this.
"It's cold!" Blake shivered from the chill of the autumn night, her assessment found agreement from Pyrrha when she brought her hands to her face and blew hot air on them.
"To me it's sublime. The cold nipping at my skin, the cloudy sky blocking so much light, the anxiety it produces...magnificent." A light giggle left Ruby's lips as she let her her true self shine through for but a moment, enjoying that which would unnerve most.
Slight shuffling sounds came from the other's fidgeting at another sharp reminder that their leader was different; inhuman.
Yet...they had to accept this and move past it. They were now part of a world where humans were at the very bottom of the ladder and often didn't survive their first hunt...so to have a vampire as their leader was a boon instead of a curse.
As long as Ruby kept her fang's to herself unless consent was given, they could...no, they would accept it.
"Our first class will be in the combat classroom, so let's not be late, alright?" Ruby strode forth as Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren uneasily followed just behind her.
Save for the whispering wind and moaning trees, there was complete silence while the group made their way through the gothic-style garden. Several buildings still had the lights on in a few places, most of them being in the dorm premises behind them.
Walking through the final stretch of the garden and into the courtyard beyond, Ruby found herself humming a small tune to distract herself from the yearning for blood in her throat. The distorted echo that her voice had made the melody far more eerie than it originally would've been.
She was hungry, but she would wait until after their lessons to see if she'll have to waste her own blood regenerating any wounds she'd receive. Ruby could still use her aura, in fact, that was preferable, however...it was more difficult to control with her enhanced vampiric strength/durability.
If she put too much aura into an already maiming blow by accident...the results wouldn't be pretty. That was another thing she'd have to add to her growing list of problems that she needed to solve.
Gather resources, recruit underlings, survive Beacon, train her vampiric powers, erode Pyrrha's will, avoid her family, deceive Ozpin...it was a hefty lot of goals.
Ruby would still complete them no matter what it took.
Throwing open the doors to the training hall they had arrived at while she had been thinking, Ruby noticed how dark the entire room was; no lights were on, no candles, nothing.
It was odd...the room number on the schedule indicated that this was the right classroom.
'Did Ozpin mess up somehow? I can't hear or smell anything...' If her own vampiric senses weren't registering any signs of life, where the hells was their new teacher?!
No sooner than that thought had crossed her mind, an immediate sense of danger screamed a psychic signal in Ruby's mind, barely pulling her head back enough to avoid a dagger passing within an inch of her neck.
Death had been so close at hand if it that dagger had been two inches closer, although...a slash to the throat wouldn't kill her unless it went all the way through...yet that did little to assuage the terror filling her mind.
Despite how she had been thoroughly trained by her family and Signal to never freeze, all the muscles in her body refused to move. A quick glance with her eyes to her sides showed that Pyrrha had fallen on her ass in terror, Blake had pulled out a small stiletto in her right hand with wild eyes, while Ren had started breathing heavy from panic.
"Definitely a set of greenhorns if you didn't expect an attack from such an obvious ambush..." A feminine voice that had a raspy growl to it rarely heard in a woman's voice spoke out, not even a foot to Ruby's left.
Turning on her heels in an instant to face their attacker, they were met with a set of dull green eyes staring at them in a cold mix of amusement and disappointment.
Blonde hair with a slight red tinge flowed down just pass her shoulders, of which her shoulders were rather broad for a woman. She was about a head taller than Pyrrha, the teams tallest member, so she loomed over Ruby who was the shortest.
There was a set of jagged scars layered across her rounded face which extended to her sternum, where a V-neck shirt gave a glimpse of her considerable bust. Overlaying that same shirt was a leather jacket and a small medallion with odd symbols on it.
Covering her legs was a tattered pair of jeans that led down to a worn pair of combat boots. Ruby begrudgingly admitted that the outfit looked stunning on the older woman.
"So you're the greenhorns that Ozpin chose in your generation to fight the Veil? ...First impressions aren't exactly looking great, but that's why I'm here; to turn you into monsters to hunt other monsters." A soft tapping sound came as her right heel bounced up and down on the floor as an unconscious tick.
Green eyes locked into silver as a smirk grew on the scarred woman's face. Extending her right hand towards Ruby's face, who could finally move after the freeze-up she had, the woman lifted Ruby's lips with a long index finger to reveal a vein running through each of her canines.
Ruby could retract the size of the teeth themselves at will so her long teeth weren't an instant giveaway, but the vein stubbornly stayed the same no matter what she wanted. Taking back her hand away from Ruby's mouth, professor Nightingale wiped off her finger on her pants before looking at Ruby again.
"You're the vampire, aren't ya shortstack? I want you to fight your teammates in hand-to-hand with everything you've got, barring killing them of course." An audible nervous gulp came from Pyrrha, the only one to have seen Ruby fight so far, at the idea that Ruby had free reign to kick their asses.
Blake and Ren were looking equally as anxious about the sure challenge before them...meanwhile Ruby was beginning to match their teacher's own grin.
After the whole debacle in the Emerald Forest with the werewolf, Ruby had been hoping for a chance to vent her frustrations at all the bullshit that keeps being added to her pile of problems.
"You've got much to learn. This should be a good primer to your buddies about how dangerous our jobs are while I can also get a good judgement on your skills." Motioning them to start with a wave of her hands, the professor backed away towards the far wall while Ruby turned to her teammates with an arm already pulled back to strike.
Aiming her cocked fist at Ren; who seemed the weakest of the group physically. Ruby slammed it into him as his arms came up to protect his center-mass. Magenta aura flared around his arms trying to hold back the titanic strength of the silver-eyed abomination.
One second...two seconds...three seconds the barrier held strong as Ren pushed more and more of his reserves into it...yet, it couldn't last against the surge of force that exploded into being when Ruby flared her own crimson aura for an instant.
Magenta light flickered before shattering in a thousand tiny motes. Ruby's fist continued unimpeded past Ren's now broken defenses and towards his unprotected center-mass.
Air rushed out of his lungs when his arms did little to stop the cannonball that was the silver-eyed vampire's punch, which continued until it hit his chest and blasted him off his feet.
Spit mixed with small amounts of blood flew from Ren's lip from the impact; sending him flying through the doors, which broke when he went through them, and skipping into the hallway beyond.
Turning to face Blake who began her own attack after Ren fell, Ruby ignored Ren, who laid in a crumpled pile gasping for air, and dodged the small stiletto knife Blake had unveiled earlier.
Weaving in-between every strike the felinid made was childsplay to the vampiress. If Ruby herself could react to things at just under mach-speed when using her semblance back when she had been a mortal, she wouldn't even need to use her semblance as a vampire.
Narrowing her eyes in annoyance as she waited for Blake to overextend, Ruby heard Pyrrha getting to her feet while she slapped away another slash from Blake. Using her enhanced hearing to her advantage, Ruby tracked Pyrrha as she tried to pincer Ruby between herself and Blake.
Not that she'd let that happen.
Grabbing Blake's arm as she went in for a hack at Ruby's ribs, Ruby lifted the bigger girl over her head, who let out a startled scream at the surprise of Ruby's strength, and tossed Blake at Pyrrha, who collided with a solid impact and multiple grunts of pain.
However...professor Nightingale had given her free reign short of killing her teammates, so Ruby was going to have her fun.
Despite how it was going to burn through her precious aura; Ruby used her semblance in a short burst to get closer to the two in an instant. Blake was the main threat with her sharp instincts and inclination to kill...so Ruby would neutralize her first.
Blake staggered to her feet from the impact that rattled her brain. Shaking her head to clear the fog, her eyes widened as she saw Ruby appear in front of them from a cloud of blackened and wilted rose petals.
Throwing up her black-colored aura around her arms similar to what Ren had done minutes ago, Blake took three hits to her forearms that felt like they were breaking her bones with each hit.
'Her form and technique are awful, but the power behind each blow is off the charts!' Panic set into the felinid's mind as this was far beyond anything she had fought yet; save for that werewolf that she managed to escape relatively unscathed.
It was all she could do to defend against the onslaught! There wasn't even enough time to deploy a clone from her semblance from how fast the vampire was!
Feeling annoyed at how long it was taking to take down Blake, just as she had done with Ren, Ruby flared her aura to life in a flash of crimson colored light over her left arm.
Ducking low to get under Blake's guard that had proved stalwart so far, Ruby came back up and slammed her balled fist into Blake's now aura-covered stomach...yet that barrier proved futile to stop the blow.
Blood gushed from Blake's mouth as she dropped to her knees from the shockwave of agony expanding throughout her stomach. Vomit soon came out from her bruised stomach while Ruby jumped away from the mess.
Danger flared across Ruby's sharpened senses from behind her; whipping around to find out what it was, it showed Pyrrha hadn't been idle...
Everything metallic inside the classroom had been gathered up by the champion using her semblance; Polarity.
Pens, chairs, desks, waste bins, rulers, anything that had even the smallest amount of metal was now under her command. Sable aura glowed on Pyrrha's hand since she was using her hands to guide the floating array of objects.
Closing her hand until one finger pointed at Ruby, the silent command was given that sent all her controlled items hurtling at Ruby. Understand the threat of having so many various items try to crush her; the vampire kicked off into a sprint at Pyrrha to take down the one controlling everything flying at her.
Leaping over an airborne desk and ducking under a trash can trying to skull her, Ruby's eyes widened as several rulers spinning at high speeds dove at her head. Time slowed down for Ruby when she called upon her semblance, Petal Burst, to dodge the almost lethal attack and hurtle at Pyrrha as a storm of decayed rose petals.
Appearing out of her semblance right in front of Pyrrha, she grabbed Pyrrha by the throat with her left hand and lifted the champion into the air above her onyxian-haired head.
Pyrrha used her right hand to claw at the hand clutching her throat fighting to breathe with the restriction of her windpipe, bright sable aura focused on the area Ruby had a death-grip on. Tears began to build at the corners of Pyrrha's green eyes as more oxygen was denied, leading to Pyrrha desperately hammer her left hand at Ruby's abdomen.
It was for naught as Ruby clamped her other hand down onto the defiant limb. Sinister silver stared into terrified green as Pyrrha finally understood that her partner was a monster, an inhuman abomination.
If it wasn't for the fact Ruby was willing to restrain herself, there was not a single thing Pyrrha could do to save herself if Ruby decided to kill her or worse...
'This is the kind of thing we'll have to fight regularly?' Terror could not even begin to describe the alien level of helplessness overwhelming the champion right now.
For years she had been lauded as a prodigy huntress, one that very few her age could beat...now she realized that she was at the bottom of the pecking order in a world where monsters like her partner were all too common.
A scream built in her throat as black dots appeared at the edge of her vision...she was started to black out from the hand gripped so tight on her throat.
Everything was becoming hazy as the lack of oxygen kept building and her aura began to flash dangerously.
Moonlight seeping in from the windows gave off a chill as Ruby brought the taller girl down to her knees. Shadows writhed and thrashed behind the two in a twisted dance singing the song of degradation.
Behind Ruby a little ways back, Blake got back up as she had recovered from being used as a bat to hit another person, quickly rushing Ruby as the primal instincts engraved in her blood screamed for her to kill the unnatural thing before her.
When she was not even ten feet from Ruby, a tendril made of shadow vines erupted from Ruby's distorted shadow to slap the felinid aside like a fly and sent her bouncing across the floor. Blake was stunned as her back crashed against a desk that had been stacked against one wall with her eyes rolled back in her head from the shock sent spasming throughout her nervous system.
Leaning down next to Pyrrha's ear and relaxing her grip on Pyrrha's throat, Ruby planted a seed of darkness within her partner different to the ones she had already done; powerlust.
"If you're this helpless against me...what will you do when I can't save you against something worse? Are you okay being this weak? This worthless?" Those whispered words bounced around in Pyrrha's skull as she breathed fast to regain the air she had needed so much.
Pyrrha had tears now visibly falling down her reddened cheeks at the overwhelming blend of emotions she felt.
Shame, self-doubt, relief, horror, sadness, anger,...and hatred.
She hated how weak she felt. How a girl...no, a monster, younger than her could reduce her to a wreck so often? In less than a day, Ruby had marked Pyrrha in ways that the latter had never thought possible.
Her skin had been torn, her blood taken, her sexuality questioned, her world shattered...
Even with all of that that had come about since meeting the vampiress...
Ruby was irresistible despite how much she terrified Pyrrha.
Over where she was leaning against the wall, Nightingale frowned as her trained senses picked up the words that Ruby said to Pyrrha.
While it wasn't exactly the most considerate approach to take, the drive Pyrrha would have from it...wouldn't be a bad thing. Feelings of inferiority can push people to become better than what they had been.
...And better they needed to be. Team RPBR wouldn't last out in the field as things stood currently. A vampire with any decent modicum of experience would eat them alive.
Of course, Nightingale had no way of knowing the true effect Ruby's words would have on the redhead.
That it would be the road to her own damnation.
"Alright, that's enough short stack. I have an idea of what to work on with each of you." There was a thump as Ruby released Pyrrha, who fell to the ground gasping for air and tears coming from her eyes, to turn her attention towards their teacher.
"Your form and technique are terrible in hand-to-hand; you rely far too much on brute strength...however, your control is impressive given how recently you were turned. I'll be teaching you martial arts more suited to your body...perhaps Aikido due to your small stature." Ruby gave a small nod of her head to acknowledge the decision while Nightingale brought her attention towards Pyrrha and helped the girl to her feet.
Within Ruby's own mind was a flurry of ideas about how she could've done better throughout the fight.
'It took way too long to bring both Blake and Ren down. I need to find better ways to neutralize multiple targets quickly or when Ozpin decides to have me hunted after I eventually betray him, I won't last long...' Silver eyes looked down at her left hand in slight frustration at the thought.
As it stood currently; she was still far too weak to even begin her plans to bring Vale under her dominion. Curling her fingers into a fist at how disgusted she was with herself, Ruby let out a small tch sound out of annoyance.
During Ruby's inner monologue; Nightingale had revived Blake with some smelling salts and helped Ren by injecting him with a small amount of morphine from a pouch on her hip.
Each member of the team was given some guidance on what they needed to improve upon in CQC.
Ruby needed to learn proper fighting techniques instead of relying on her vampiric strength to blast through her opponents defenses; she was going to learn Kenpo due to it's focus on speed, which was a field few could match her on with her semblance.
Pyrrha was no longer allowed to use her semblance in CQC since it would eventually become an Achilles heel for her. Instead of using that crutch, she'd focus on martial arts like Judo that used grappling given her bigger size than her teammates.
Blake would train her strength to maximize her offensive potential. The way the girl fought was through raw aggression and quick strikes, so having more muscle power would enable more debilitating strikes and quicker speed in unfavorable scenarios.
Ren didn't show much of what he could do in CQC due to how quickly he had been taken down. What he did show, however, was incredible aura control that managed to stop a fledgling vampire's attack for more than a second. So Nightingale would have him learn to channel his aura into a strike to surprise his opponents with a more powerful attack than they would think it would be.
"You have your assigned fields now; I will send homework to your scrolls included the basics of what I want you to do. Next class I will teach you about stealth since it's better to take your target down quietly rather than risk injury in open combat. My job here, after all, is to teach you how to slaughter your prey and not fight in all-out combat." A cold chill ran throughout the destroyed classroom at one of the words uttered; Prey.
Monsters, Grimm...and people. Team RPBR's sole purpose was to prey upon that which haunted humanity from the shadows. They were the knives in the dark that struck where no-one else could or dared to.
A shuffling sound came from Pyrrha and Ren as they fidgeted uncomfortably at that notion. Their lives had been dedicated to learning how to hunt Grimm, to hunt monsters that had no soul or reasoning...
So to hear over and over that they were put together to kill humans and other intelligent life?
...It struck with the agony of a stake to the heart.
Even Blake looked towards the ground at the nauseating notion. She has killed before, that is true, but to view people or thinking creatures as little more than animals to be slaughtered at the behest of their superiors?
She had to force back down bile at that thought.
Nightingale took note of the three teens unease, but unlike how one of her kinder colleagues at Beacon, her gaze held no sympathy or understanding.
Only one of the team was able to lock eyes her without flinching or grimacing.
"While your peers are hunters...you will be killers." As is the case with such a terrible topic; only a monster could accept those words.
...And the silver eyes of a degraded soul proved to be such a monster.
Annnnnnnnd that's it!
I plan on doing a small timeskip in the next chapter: just until the first weekend is all.
The last few chapters have taken place over two days, which is a bit slow for what I have planned.
So the next chapter will have Ruby visiting Vale for a few different goals.
...And other characters will learn a fragment of what is to come.
Beware of that which lurks beyond sight and your fellow man.
Farewell, for now...