A/N: Hello! And, welcome back to the next chapter in this story. Once again, I hopefully have been able to upload a chapter for three separate stories by the time your reading this, but we'll see, eh?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

RWBY is owned by Viz Media and was created by the late Monty Oum

By Blood and Teeth

Chapter 5

It took her only a few days of travel before Weiss zeroed in on that smell. That lovely, lovely, awful smell. A heady scent that fill her mind for days now. She hated it. She loved it. She craved the one it belonged to.

She just didn't know what she would do when she found the one. But, there were times that her mouth watered as she thought of him. Times she felt her hands almost twitch at the thought of his touch, his taste. She didn't know why she thought the scent belonged to a man, not a male, not a woman or female, but a man.

As she fed from the disgusting driver of the cart one time while he drily hump the air under the effects of her Kiss she told him why she had a a clear distinction of those genders. "Among the Kine, only the Ancients occasionally still use the term man or woman in reference to gender. Most of the others simply use male and female. I don't quite know why. I even asked the Kleins, Our servant race among the Kine, about it once, but they couldn't answer me. You would think that we would want to elevate ourselves over the beasts we use as slaves, now wouldn't you? But we don't."

"UUgghh! Ah, Ah!"

"Quiet. I'm trying to think here. ...I feel like, when I catch that scent, that it's a man, and I don't know why. It could easily be a woman. Or a female of some species like the Faunus or another Bloodkin. Lord of the Night, but I hope it isn't another Kindred like my old master!" She mused after a swift rebuttal to the cart driver as he twitched and writhed with phantom pleasure beneath her, twisting his wrists and ankles painfully under the ropes she had tied.

She had come to learn that his name was Harold, and he was, indeed, a very bad man. He had enslaved women, and men, under a false modicum of kindness before he drugged them out of their minds and used them till they were broken beyond repair. Then he simply tossed them away and began again. In Weiss's mind, he was as much a monster as he no doubt thought she was, perhaps even more so. She couldn't disagree, not after what she had done all those years ago to his kind, and her own.

That being said, she herself didn't actually like the idea of slavery, never had, especially as she and her family were essentially ones while under her Father's rule, under her former master, Gilda, care. Not that that same mindset was ever directed towards the Beasts living under the Kine as slaves, of course, seeing as they killed her Grandfather and so many other family members over the near two centuries of her existences. They had even killed her favorite among the Kleins that personally served her family. Or, at least, that's what her father had told her all those years ago.

She thought about that for a moment then shook her head before stopping as she felt a bit dizzy all of a sudden.

And she didn't like how he had tricked so many people into being ones willingly, going back to thinking of Harold as she stared down at his naked form, the two bodies next to him already still and silent after she finished her administrations. She knew she was a hypocritic for thinking that, seeing as she was feeding off of him without his express permission, but still...

Still, she was going to make him pay for all that. For everything he had done to others over the years. A surrogate for her own crimes as it were, she supposed. At least that had been the plan...

To that end, she had allowed him to stop off at one of his wives homes so that he might take the edge off with the woman. Weiss had grown beyond disgusted with how he acted under her influence and decided to do him that much of a favor before she fed from the wedded pair after they had... uh, done the deed. She wasn't so... disturbed as some of her kind and stayed to watch them, instead leaving to watch the night sky until they were through. Afterwards, she had made certain to make the wife remember nothing save that her husband had visited to tell her the unbridled truth of what he was, what he had done before giving her all the evidence she would ever need to destroy his operations and how to contact his other wives.

Weiss was certain that would save many more lives than she ever could hope to do so on her own. She knew that the woman, Cassidy, would follow through with what she had learned even without her influence, especially as, thanks to an ability she alone seem to have. After drinking the woman's blood and accessing a few of the more prominent memories trapped in her blood, she found her to a good and honest sort. As recompense for this gift, and with the knowledge that Cassidy most likely wouldn't survive this mission she was sending her own, Weiss stole, er, borrowed, an old blue dress that was always too small for Cassidy to wear anyway, and left with her ex-husband, never to be seen again.

Now, she was in a barn outside of the town of New Sauvignon, feeding off Harold one last time, as well as a few of his friends she had found there, after discovering that it housed one of his drug making operations. And that had been where she made her first mistake: She had gotten scared, and then she had gotten angry.

On arriving at the location she had order Harold to wait outside while she scouted out the building, trying to determine if she was walking into a trap. Just cause she had a measure of control over her current food stock/slave, didn't mean that he couldn't perhaps instigate something. She had entered the barn softly, quietly, finding it dark, but not too dark. Or so she thought.

As she descended first from the loft above where she had entered the building from, easily pinpointing the eight humans within, five men and three women, she had made her way around various tables piled high with strange devices full of noxious chemicals or powders, before finding the hatch leading below, and the distant heartbeats down there. Thinking to make certain that it was more guards she entered the hatch, and walked into pitch black darkness. So dark she couldn't see. At least, that's what her mind told her. Almost immediately an irrational fear began to take over. Sweat dripped down her back and her breathing hitch, changing from a casual, soft breath to a rapid staccato. Somehow, she found the courage to descend down the rough-hewed steps, placing one heavy foot in front of the other until she reach he bottom and saw it. A table covered in old blood, various torture devices next to it. It wasn't quite like the ones used on her in the Marrow, being more similar to the same type of bed used by her old Master, Gilda, as she taught her her kind of love. Her breath hitched again, getting worse as she turned away from that and she stopped, stilled entirely, as she saw the three malnourished, beaten and bloodied forms in the cages beyond, too small to properly hold them. then collars around their necks.

The rage that took over her then was all consuming. A vision of endless red and black.

She burst through the hatch in a fury, howling with rage. Before any of the guards or torturers could react she had already killed three of them, ripping their throats out as she fed from them, deeply. Draining them dry. She did that again, and again, and again, until the she drunk on their blood, the blue sundress she was wearing was splattered with it. None of them escaped. Bodies were torn to pieces in her blood-addled, mindless fury.

It was an old wives' tale that Vampires couldn't drink a dead man's blood as it as toxic to them, making them nauseous. That was untrue. They simply didn't like the taste of old or befouled blood. The actual reason why the Kine usually stopped feeding off of a victim once they were so drained that they died was because at that point the blood turned from merely sustenance into that of a powerful aphrodisiac. A mind-warping, mood-altering drug, often used at the most macabre of parties or orgies. One that was highly addicting. One that Weiss had been forcibly addicted to by her master, the Kindred loving how she acted under it, even as she wept with terrible shame afterwards every time.

But Weiss didn't care about that right now. She was beyond caring about anything at that point as she devoured them all. She didn't care, or so she thought.

The blood tasted so good. It made her feel things again that she hadn't thought she could. And that smell. Oh, by the Darkness Beyond, that smell. It was Heavenly. Or, as close to it as a filthy little Bloodkin like her could get. She needed that smell, the scent. Needed whoever it belonged to. Needed to taste, to touch. To Feel.

Before long she wasn't just feeding off of them and hurting them out of hatred, out of fear. She was touching them for other reasons. Was fucking them till their poor, frail, human bodies broke under her. Till they screamed from the pleasure of it as she snapped their spines and broke their bones. As she cut into their skin, their flesh with her claws and teeth and rutted against the blood that flowed in orgasmic delight, her mind too far gone to stop, to care to stop.

She was hungry. So, so hungry... Had been for sooo long... Gods above and Below she had craved it so much for so long. Her sister and her brother and her mother had tried to help her, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough. She just wanted to touch, taste. Feel. Was it so wrong to feel? To be allowed to live? just this once?

And, the Blood tasted so good under that scent. His scent. She needed to prepare. Needed to be ready. She needed to be ready for anything. So, she fed, and fed, and fed, even as her world took on a reddish tinge and a manic giggle erupted from her chest unexpectedly as she drew forth a bloody knife and crooned to the last of her dinner, saying, "Shush, now, Harold. This will only hurt for a moment, hehe!"

And she began to cut, and cut, and cut just like her Master had taught her to do, just like her Father had forced her to do at the tender age of five, and she released her mental control over Harold. He screamed long and loud into the night, endlessly under her loving touch. but there was no one around to hear it.

Not anymore.

/ /

"Eeeeghh! Oooohhh!" Ruby whined to herself not for the first time as she fidgeted with her hands and hair as she stalked back and forth in front of Bert as he laid before the roaring fire of the inn they were now staying at, they had informed the clerk that the Blacksmith Jaune was meeting them there for a business deal, and after a bit of Pack Magic, the woman had let them through. "What am I doing? Was this the right move? did he believe me? Why do I want him to believe me?!"

The wolf stared at his comrade and leader in confusion. She had been doing this since she got back from meeting with the Human, and he had no idea why. When he asked her how it had gone she had responded with, "I don't know, okay!" Almost biting his head off in the process.

So, he had wisely remained silent after that, only watching her as she wore herself into a fit. He still didn't get it. It was merely a Human. It's not like he's her mate or anything like that. Humans and Wolven don't mix. He thought to himself as he laid there. Still, if nothing else, there was some entertainment value in this, at the very least.

That was what he was thinking right up until Ruby stopped in place, seemingly transfixed. He tried to speak to her but she didn't respond, and it was only through the connection they shared as packmates that he was finally able to tell what was wrong.

Ruby wasn't nervous anymore, she was scared.

With a sudden shudder, her ears shifted to that of a wolf as she cocked her head to he side as she stood there, listening. Then, shifting almost completely into her hybrid form, she turned and crashed through the window of their room, shouting, "He's in danger!"

Bert had laid there unable to move, stunned by what he saw. What? Are they Mates? He found himself asking as he made to stand up and follow after her, only to hear the sound of frantic footsteps on the stairs leading to their room. Thinking quickly, he shifted to his human form just as the door open and the clerk, Anne, dashed in saying, "What was that? I heard a - Good Lord!"

She stared at him, well a particular part of him, as he casually stalked over to her and said with as friendly of a smile as he could remember to make, "Oh, nothing to worry about, my Good Lady Proprietress, my friend merely went out for some air."

"I, wh-what? Through the window?" The woman asked, confused beyond all measure as he looked around the room. Or, maybe she was just too embarrassed to look back at him as he came to stand right in front of her. He wondered why that was. Did Humans have some kind of conniption with being naked?

Suddenly, she blinked and seemed to stare at him as a thought came to her mind and she then questioned, "Wh-who are you, anyway? You weren't with the girl earlier?"

"What? Of course, I was. I'm Bert. I was the hairy one that was right behind her the whole time." He responded with what he thought was a beaming smile. One filled with wolfish teeth. She stared at him in confusion for a moment at that then started as she realized what she was seeing, jolting backwards as she stared at his still rather hairy body in fear before opening her mouth to scream.

/ /

Jaune tried to keep the smile off of his face as he stalked down the alley with the bundle in his arms. He had finished his last order hours ago and, after a quick stop to check in on his new niece, Anala, and a peck on the cheek of his equally hardworking sister, had made his usual romp around town, dropping off all the orders he had made much to everyone's protest. Sure, it would easier to hire a runner, or take on his own apprentice, but it wouldn't be cheaper. Nor, could he be sure that someone wouldn't try to pull a fast one on him and not pay for his work should he go by that route.

He was a man of his word. Most others weren't.

But he didn't fault them for that. He just accepted it and moved on. He still wasn't sure if that made him arrogant or altruistic in that regard, but Terra certainly thought strongly about it. She called him an idiot at least once a day after he had gotten back from his stint with the Reliable Redoubts and learned the truth that she had always touted.

"Least she can't complain about the money I made today," He said to himself. "We might have enough to pay for that new roof she's been wantin'."

Gurgle. Growl.

He chose to ignore the way his stomach had growled then. Times were tough right now and he wasn't going to take money that could go to his family for food for himself. Besides, he could always find something to eat later. It had... only been two days now. He could go longer. And, if things went right on this deal, he might even have some extra funds on hand for something like that.

He shifted the bundle in his arms once more as he saw a woman stagger down the alleyway ahead of him. He couldn't quite get a good look at her from the shadows, but it looked like she was drunk and not injured so he wasn't too worried. Though, he did decide to keep an eye out for her as she wandered around the corner into an offshoot of the alleyway, the numerous homes of New Sauvignon creating a maze-like complex of back roads and alleys as they were constantly forced in close to one another due to the limited space available within the walls. It was quite easy to get lost within, especially on a night like this.

He looked up to stare at the twinkling stars through the overcast sky. There was still no Moon tonight, it being the third night of the New Moon. Though, if one looked closely enough they could just make out the great crater on the face of the celestial body, the innards of the planetary body being to dark to reflect the light back. Course, both the Beastfolk and the Kine would argue otherwise, finding the Humans' perpetual blindness at night to be one more sign of their inherent weakness.

He looked down at the bundle again as he shifted it. He hoped the Wolf would be pleased with his... gift. She had asked for only arrowheads. A simple matter. But Jaune believed in being thorough. So, he had crafted twenty arrows the steel heads fitted to shafts of Rowan, a fine tree for arrows. He hoped she would be pleased with that, thought his fletching wasn't all that great.

"There you are," a very feminine voice giggled behind him. He turned abruptly, not having seen nor heard anyone coming up behind him to find a woman there. He blinked as he took a step back from her, feeling like something wasn't quite right. She didn't resemble the woman from earlier. That one had some kind of dark brown hair from what he could see, and this one, he had never seen hair of such a color, like silver spun into thread. Plus, was that blood, on her dress?

"Why are you backing away from me? Do you want me to chase you?" She cooed with another giggle as she staggered towards him, seemingly drunk, her pale blue eyes even seem to have a bit of redness to them he thought as she was suddenly there, right in front of him, having cupped his cheek in one, cool hand as she leaned in close and sniffed him before saying, "You smell."

"Oh, uh, sorry. I just got off work and I haven't washed yet," He said absently by way of explanation as he tried to step away from her once more only to have her somehow stay right there with him, leaning in towards his neck as if she was going to kiss him.

Instead, while on tiptoes, she sniffed t his pulse while licking her lips and said in a sultry, if clearly drunken giggle, "You smell. Stinky, stinky man. Why do you smell so?"

I, uh, uh," Jaune started before shivering as she licked him and felt everything tighten on his body. He let out an involuntary groan at that even as he tried to jerk away from her, but she somehow held him in a grip so tight he couldn't move. And, as she leaned into towards him again he felt his eyes widen as he saw a pair of fangs, saw that her eyes weren't just red tinged but blood red in their entirety. He opened his mouth to scream, tried to move, to shove her away, but found he couldn't as his world spun into a soft darkness as his vison was filled by eyes turned molten with dark, blood red light, and he heard somewhere close by but also so far, far away a darkly feminine voice purred, "Shush, my sweet. I've been searching for you for so long. Just wat a bit longer and-"

Pow!

The woman was slammed backwards, knocked away from him as she was cold-cocked with tremendous force by a red blur. A red Blur that turned out to be a rather more-hairy-than-last-time Ruby as she snarled deeply at the woman, "Get away from him, you bloodsucking whore!" Jaune almost couldn't make out what she said, her voice was so garbled, like there was some kind of protrusion in her mouth, and stood up from where he had been knocked back by the same, brief show of power to make his way over to her, only for Ruby to snap her head towards him, revealing a mouth full of fangs and saliva as she snarled, "Get back, Jaune!"

He blinked and staggered backwards upon the sight before turning to run in abject horror. He didn't see how the frenzied battle light in her silver eyes briefly changed to that of sadness at that before she whipped her head back around to snarl wordlessly at the Vampyr as she rose back to her feet in a creepy, jerking motion while rubbing at her jaw to pop it back into place, saying, "That wasn't very nice, Beast. You should know better than to come between a Lady and her Paramour, hehehe!" Giggling almost drunkenly on that last word she then brushed a hand over the ruined blue dress she wore and said, "Now, kindly step aside, dog, and I'll let this grievance go while I track him down again."

Ruby stared at the punch drunk Vampyr, realizing almost immediately that something more was going on here than merely a fight, before shaking her head and growling as her hair stood on end and her claws ripped their way through he fingers and toes, "Like I'd let you touch him like that again. You want him so bad, Blood? Come get him! HAarrgh!"

Then she closed with the Vampyr in a full on sprint within two paces as her feet cracked the stone below them. The Vampyr merely gave her a crazed grin, a dull gleam in her eyes as she stood there with her arms at her side, fingers like needles, legs braces apart for the coming fight.

/ /

Jaune ran as fast as he could after he saw the fangs, the claws, the look in Ruby's eyes. The shock of her transformation combined with the appearance of one of the undead was more than he could handle at the time. It brought back memories of the past. Bad memories. Of his family, of the fires, of being a little boy who was too young and weak to do anything.

But Jaune wasn't that little boy anymore.

So, as he ran on a panic, he began to calm down. Then he slowed to a crawl, creping along as he glanced back towards the distant, shadowy alley. And, finally, with a frown on his face, he spat on the ground before sneering, "What are you a coward, Jaune?"

With a shake of his head he took off again, this time in a focused, determined manner. He still didn't know if this whole thing was a good idea, but he sensed that Ruby might be in trouble. And, for some reason, that just didn't sit right with him. None of this did, really.

Besides, he had already made the arrows...

A quick turn down a side street had him finding one of the patrols of the Night Watch. Just as he had expected. He knew where all the patrols where, even now, after all the years he had trained with the Watch in the past, before he took on his apprenticeship with Braum, the local blacksmith. And, it just so happens, that he had an old friends in this patrol. Two, actually.

"Kale! Thrum! I need you! Now!" He shouted with as much energy as he could while he sprinted towards them.

Two of the five guards turned to look his way. One a woman with auburn hair and the other, a shorter man with inky black hair and a bristly mustache. The man blinked as he realized who it was who was shouting in the gloom and called out, "Arc?! That You?!"

"Braum!" Jaune bellowed as he charged up toward where they could finally see him in the torch light. He waved his arm at them to follow him as he yelled, "Come quickly! There's trouble!" Then without waiting for an answer he turned and sprinted back to the alleyway as fast as he could.

The guards briefly looked at each other before Kale and Braum both shook their head and the woman shouted, "Lyre! Cowan! With me! We're going to round Bryce's and Dale's patrols. Braum, after Arc! Get your firecrackers ready. You see anything, pop the flare and we'll come runnin'! Now, Move!"

The guards quickly nodded at that and scattered with Braum and one other guard drawing their longswords as they dashed after the already dwindling form of Jaune. They quickly caught up to the large man only because he slowed enough for them to do so. "Jaune," Braum shouted as they drew up next to him. "What's going on? An attack? Is it bandits? Or, something worse?"

"I don't know," The man responded with a shake of his head before he reached over and snatched the firework looped around the man's neck as he shot forwards once more and led the way. Braum groaned at that, remembering their days together in training, and Jaune's short relationship with Kale notwithstanding, he was always a hard ass like this, his resolve back then both encouraging and exasperating. He looked at the other guard and nodded with his head towards Jaune's once again retreating form. The man nodded as the pair of them ran on after the former guardsman cadet.

Jaune quickly came upon a curious sight. One he hadn't see on his desperate flight from Ruby and the vampire. It was another woman. Similar to the one from earlier. The one that looked drunk on first appearances. She was unconscious and slumped against the wall of another offshoot.

Jaune dropped down next to her, checking her over. Braum and the other guard soon joined him. She seemed alright, only unconscious. Though he noted the two small wounds in her neck, freshly dripping with blood. "Is she alright, Jaune?" Braum asked, not able to see much from where he stood behind the man.

Jaune paused for a moment, thinking quickly. Knowing what he knew of the people of this village, and their kneejerk reaction would be if they saw those wounds. Then he replied with, "Aye. She's merely unconscious." Then he turned and fired the firework into the sky, at an angle. With a brief flash of light and smoke a red orb of burning light burst forth to fly up into the sky to hang there with a trailing line of smoke.

Braum and the guard made no mention of that, too busy checking their surrounding for any threats. If they had noticed it, they would've said something about that. To avoid setting a roof on fire all Guards were trained to launch the Signal Flares straight up in the Sky. For some reason, Jaune felt he needed to give a heads up to the werewolf.

/ /

The fight had only last for a moment but already the ground and walls around the pair of rapidly darting females were covered in cracks and craters from various supernaturally strong blows. There was blood and shredded clothing from near misses scattered about along the ground as the two fought in near silence.

Ruby panted heavily, sweat dripping down from her hair as she slid backwards from a brutal assault, her naked heels digging a grove into the stone underneath. She growled at how annoying this was, at how hard it was to take down one, measly Vampyr! Her mother had taught her better than this! This was beneath her! "Stupid, stupid handsome human man!" She snarled and seethed. Then she blinked at that in confusion, briefly dropping her guard. What why did I say he was handsome? she thought before dancing backwards as fast as she could, just barely dodging the flurry of slashing claws coming for her face, one shattering the stone wall by her head as she barely jerked out of the way, before darting in and slugging the Vampyr twice more in the face as hard as she could then once in the stomach before flying a further two haymakers towards her face as the bitch just stood there and took them.

The blows seemed to do nothing to the manic seeming female as she grinned before swiping at Ruby once more. She ducked under the first several swipes only to gag as a feint caused her to be grabbed tightly around the throat and slammed down into the ground.

She writhed and squirmed beneath the iron hard grip of the Vampyr, slugging and clawing at the arm holding her down as the Vampyr raised her other hand aloft grinning in pleasure as she allowed the claws on that hand to extend. Ruby growled at her and snarled wordlessly as she allowed more of her bestial nature to show, her chest, limbs and neck sprouting a thick patch of coarse black fur as her fangs and claws grew thicker. She could feel her muscle swelling under the partial transformation, but it wasn't enough to force off the clawed hand around her throat and she snarled at that in anger as the other hand descended slowly, the claws aimed at her eyes.

Just then a reddish light appeared overhead. The glow, burning, cracking light was just curious enough for the Vampyr to look up at it in confusion. And, that was all the distraction Ruby needed.

She lunged upwards at the Vampyr, slashing at her face. There was a brief pause as the Vampyr blinked in silence before a deep line vertically spread across the left side of her face and eye, exploding in a spray of dark blood. For the first time since the fight had started the female seemed to react to her, shrieking and flailing about as she writhed in pain, clutching at her face, screeching, "You mangy, backwards, inbred little whore! I'll gut you! Bleed you! Make you watch as I drink him dry before I skin your mangy, flee-bitten hide and turn you into a pelt!"

Ruby grinned at that before wiping at her face, her mouth from where a bit of blood dripped after taking a glancing blow from the Vampyr and cooed, "Aw, what's a matter, Bitch? Not having fun anymore?" Then she growled deeply as the fur spread to crown her face as the bones there shifted into more of a snout, "Just hold still a moment, and I'll make the rest of you match!"

The pair launched themselves at each other with renewed fury, slamming, striking and even biting at each other with such hate that every impact produced a sound like thunder as the ground and walls surrounding them shattered from the force of their melee.

Ruby hissed as with a hooked claw, the red-eyed female racked a deep, dragging wound drop across her left should and over her chest just above her breasts. She returned the heavy blow with one of her own, racking her claws over the woman's chest, shredding over and through her smaller breasts and across her chest to her shoulders in a direct reflection of her own. The Vampyr hissed at that and retaliated with a gash to her inner thighs before slugging her in the face hard enough to break her nose. Ruby snapped at her retreating hand, crushing the delicate bones of the wrist between her teeth as she wrenched the arm to one side while she tried to disembowel her opponent, only to have her bite down on her neck and shoulder, tearing a gout of blood and meat from her.

Then the two disengaged and leapt back from each other a couple of hops, spitting the blood of their opponent from their mouths at the same time, wiping the blood from their faces as she snarled at each other while sidestepping, circling each other. By now, even the Vampyr was panting, her former blue sundress in as many tatters as Ruby's brown corset and long sleeved blouse. At least, the cloak hand-sewn by her mother was still in good condition. She might've gone completely berserk had it been damaged in their brawl.

As they paused there, they suddenly heard the sounds of shouts and running around them and looked up to see dozens of guards coming at them from both sides. The Vampyr seemed to sigh at that as her wounds started to heal and said coyly, "Hmm, what a pity. Seems we'll have to postpone the outcome of this little scuffle for another time. Isn't that right, Beast?" She turned to look back at Ruby only to just catch the tail end of her cloak as she scrambled up and over the nearby wall that was still standing. She paused at that before smirking as she turned and disappeared in a blur of motion just as the guards reach her, shouting, "Hold there!"

/ /

Ruby fled with all speed, ducking under bushes and hopping fences and stone walls in a mad dash to evade the guards chasing ehr. There were so many. More and more somehow appearing out of nowhere to chase after her, never quite getting close enough to get a good look at her. For once, Ruby wished she hadn't come her in her favorite bit of clothing.

Finally, after she successfully evaded the many guards after her, she reached the inn and climbed out the outside to enter the still broken window and called out to Bert, "Bert! We need to-What in that name of Moon is going on here?!" upon seeing the nude male with a near equally nude woman in his arms as he nuzzled her.

He blinked as he looked up at her and shrugged, saying, "S-she barged in after you jumped out of the, the thing and made to scream while I was talking to her. So I hit her. Now she's not moving."

"Why on Remnant would you do something like that?!" Ruby demanded, stalking over to the pack of bundled clothing she brought and pulling out a new shirt and corset as she undid and tossed aside her bloody, torn clothing.

"I panicked." He deadpanned before looking down at the unconscious woman in his arms, her plump breasts pointed up towards his face. "She felt... coll. To the touch. So I thought I'd warm her up first. Before I put her to bed."

"What? Before you slept with her or something?" Ruby snapped, tossing her hair before refastening her cloak about her shoulders as she turned back towards her packmate. He blinked at her before looking down at the woman and tilted his head to the side in thought. She rolled her eyes in irritation as his large cock started to swell and she said, "Down, boy. Now's not the time. We have to go."

"Okay," he agreed without questioning her, dropping the woman on the bed and transformed back into that of a large black wolf. Then he asked How did it go?

Ruby grimaced before muttering, "It was a waste. That's how it went."

/ /

Knock, knock, knock!

At a frantic knocking and banging on his door at three in the morning, one Nelson Branch opened the door while muttering curses under his breath. He blinked as he found a small, almost waifish girl there with blood-splattered silver hair and a heavily torn and bloody dress, her one open, pale blue eye staring at him in abject grief. He did a double take at that, his mouth gaping like a fish for a moment before he asked, "W-wha? What is this?"

"I'm so, so sorry about this," the girl said to him before her eyes flashed brightly with an inner red light as she launched herself at him, knocking him over backwards, before the vampire sank her fangs into his neck and began to drink deeply as he struggled and groaned under her as she pressed herself down on top of him. As he stilled, she stood and dragged him back inside after slamming the front door of the house closed behind her. Going back to feeding off of the the dying man.

"Nel?" A soft, older, middle-aged, feminine voice called from within the home then. "Is everything alright?"

At the sound of the voice the vampire looked up, blood around the corners of her mouth as tears fell down from her eyes while the wounds there began to close. And she stood up to stalk into the depths of the house. a brief scream was heard within followed quickly by the sounds of a struggle and then the sounds of gagging and choking before finally the faintly sounds of something feeding.

/ /

Jaune stood back from the ruined section of the alleyway with his sister Saphron at his side, her arms wrapped around one of his own, clutching at him tightly as a remember fear of her own went through her. He stared at he carnage before him, clenching tightly at the bundle of arrows in his hands. Finally, he blinked and straightened, turning to look at his sister in the eyes before he made to leave, saying softly, but firmly, "I have to go."

She blinked at that and asked, "What?" But he said nothing in reply, merely turning to walk back home. She followed after him in silence, a growing worry in her every feature.

When they got there, after a brief moment to ease Terra and his nephew and niece that everything was okay, he turned back to his sister, and told her everything that had happened. He then did the same when Terra came back down after putting the kids to bed. They sat there in silence as he explained the need to go after Ruby, to see this through. And, they understood.

Jaune hadn't ever gotten over what happened. None of them had. but, where they tried to put it behind them, to forget, he couldn't. Saphron knew that he needed to do this, so she said that to him. She wasn't going to fight him like last time. Instead, she would support him like the big sister that she was, giving him money for food and supplies while telling him to take the swords and other supplies he still had from his days with the Reliable Redoubts when he left, but before all that she told him to get some rest first.

He agreed, hoping that the delay wouldn't put the werewolf too far ahead of him. His tracking skills were meager at best.

A/N: We're going to end it there. Next chapter will be when Jaune and Ruby finally, finally start their journey together, with Weiss right behind.

Take care!

Essiter out!