Chapter Text
Two weeks.
It had been two weeks since Nikolai had received fixers of interest within the Southern section of the City. After days of research, had narrowed her search to a recently hired fixer who was born in district 17, illegally entered district 18 little more than a month ago—from the outskirts no less—, and fled to district 22 via the City rail with an unknown but dangerous Bloodfiend, shielded by grade 1 fixer Salvador to be recruited into his Dawn Office, affiliate of Liu Sec2, promoted to grade 5 in less than a month—without a proper examination too?.
Born from the middle of nowhere backstreets, Grade 8 status given on his original fixer examination; Roland, student of the Purple Tear. There were clear signs of tampering with his identification. Iori wanted to rush him into becoming a fixer it seemed.
She had come down personally to the area, south of V-Nest in the small area controlled by the stationed Rabbits and Rhinos. It felt miserable. The Rabbits were going through withdrawals, with little to do than check paperwork there wasn’t much of an opportunity for them to graze the grass. The Rhinos didn’t seem as gloomy, the chance to rest came as a welcomed opportunity. The suits were less draining this way. Even the occasional ruckus wouldn’t bleed them as dry as the usual missions would, just taking care of backstreet dregs. That said, the floating smoke from L-corp was lowering morale more than she thought. It was more hideous than the worst smoke she’d seen, and the rumours of effects when inhaled would be devastating to the animals of the pack, especially the Rabbits. They were trigger crazy enough as it were, the last thing they needed were hallucinations and whatever bundle of half-cooked drugs were packed into it.
Ever since Rodger’s march into the ruins to find this fixer, the entire pack had been decimated and had to be re-hatched fast enough to keep up with the rising demand for their protection services. Not only that, but he’d been demoted from Ranger to commander, same rank as her and Abeli.
Speaking of Abeli, she’d been rather uninterested in the Purple Tear’s fixer, and as of his latest demotion, so had Rodger. It was risky to come down here and divert her attention away from more important matters— such as the extermination of the Reindeer in T-corp.
Then she got the call; a greater sister had broken in and out of V-nest and they were to respond immediately. She arrived with the Rabbits and Rhinos, leaving them stationed at the now gaping hole in the wall. A greater sister of the Middle. It was advised to proceed with caution when facing Big brothers and sisters, and when it came to elder siblings, a force of over 500;1 was recommended. With a force of only 125 rabbits, she marched toward the latest sighting. This was not an extermination mission; it was an extraction.
What a sight indeed.
The block had been reduced and the debris scattered into the horizon, bloody creatures of the night rushed out during the game, ignoring them completely. Was it that bloodfiend that had been following Roland? The rabbits had been drilled multiple hours a day specifically not to shoot civilians, and so she hoped the bleeding out boy that had just taken a hit from said elder sister wouldn’t be filled with ammunition.
“Unit 1 and 2, covering fire until target is extracted! Units 3 and 4 on the flanks! Unit 5 with me!” More than happy to fire, the hail of bullets started immediately, pinging off her shoulders and head. Nikolai ran alongside unit 4 as they flanked the Elder sister’s left. Most gunfire was directed above Nikolai’s head at the giantess that had left their target to charge into their firing line. Some rabbits discarded their guns and went straight for the knives once she closed in, charging for her leg, carving small scratches with all their force before being utterly pulverized and thrown away or smashed into pulp.
Nikolai grabbed the boy by the waist, pulling him out of the small crater. Internal bleeding was guaranteed, and judging from the way blood was bubbling down his cheek, damage to his lungs. Nikolai extracted a small spherical bolus from a vial in her pocket and pushed it down his throat. It would stop the bleeding at least, and that was the most she could do without better equipment.
The rabbits weren’t looking too good. Only 47/125 left. “Units! Retreat to basecamp!” Nikolai tossed his unconscious body to the closest rabbits, trusting them to capture their intended target as she drew her deeply serrated odachi. One Rabbit was doing a miraculous job at distracting the elder sister, vaulting over her arm and ramming their gun into any visible wounds to open fire into them. Nikolai rushed to them, the edge of her odachi slicing down the Greater sister’s back. She turned around with a snarl, backhand ready to destroy the cause of her pain.
Nikolai ducked, feeling the powerful gust of pure force sweep her beret away and heard the sound of a rifle being unloaded, seeing a chunk fly from the back of the sister’s knee. She dodged the other hand, using her sword to divert the other with great effort— the sister’s fingers clasped the blade and she pulled her sword straight down, sawing a scathing wound into her palm and cutting a finger clean off. She looked genuinely stunned, yet smiled harder, clasping her fingers into her palm, stepping between Nikolai’s legs, and punching her straight down the block with a single hit, leaping after her. She dug her sword into the ground, seeing the sister would overshoot if she did. Her odachi would assuredly lose some of its sharpness by doing so, but she could feel a cracked rib and it’d need a few minutes to heal.
The elder sister made landfall faster than she predicted and the Rabbit sprinted to intercept, tackling Nikolai out of the way before the Middle sister got to her. She turned back to the rabbit, who’s identification read #1584 of the forth pack. “Captain.” they acknowledged.
“Didn’t know they made Rabbits this efficient.”
“They don’t.”
She didn’t have time to reply, weaving to the side of a punch yet being hit by a very unexpected flick— and even less expected was the impossible power behind it. She could feel her spine and skull almost burst free of her body, her skull rattling as it made contact. A concussion at the very least, maybe some spinal damage at worst. Only by instinct did she retaliate, seeing spurts of red fly from the Sister’s body. “You ordered a retreat.” The rabbit clothes-lined her stomach, making sure to wrap and arm around as they began to flee. “We’re leaving ma’am.”
“Like hell I’m letting you all just run away when I’m having so much fun!!” The elder sister’s mouth curved into a sort of smile— the only detail she could make out was the horribly savage flavour of her face. She made another massive jump, and would’ve landed in front of them. She was stopped by a streak of beautiful vermillion— blazing so hot they Nikolai could feel it searing her hair and eyelashes as they fled— pierced straight into her ribs and pinned her to the ground. The flames were making it harder to breathe, even as they made more distance, and did not seem to create smoke in any way.
“Contact the other rabbits. Did they get him?”
A short relay, before a response. “They’ve extracted the target and are returning to base. A few of us are pissed that there wasn’t any grass to graze. They want to shoot him. Probably would’ve gotten more action at the border.”
“There’s more to missions than just grazing the grass.” Nikolai scoffed. “Tell them if they shoot, they’ll spend the rest of their lives eating each other in the hatchery.”
1584 relayed the message, before speaking her own thoughts. “Maybe there is, but the only reason I do what I’m told is because you’ve directed me to the greenest grass. Don’t make me lose faith.” They came to a stop, putting Nikolai on her feet. “That said, I know one piece of grass that looked a bit more tasty than the rest.”
“You’re not returning to fight an Elder Sister of the Middle.” Nikolai glared, feeling her ribs slowly sew themselves back together.
“Fine. Just let me retreat to the border, yeah? I’m sure you can grump your way back to the base. You know, order me there? So I’m not shot for deserting?” 1584 waved their hand.
“Very well. Go assist the border guard immediately. I’ll report your change in destination.” She sighed, turning as they began vaulting to the rooftops and jumping to the nest. “Animals…”
Once Nikolai had returned to their temporary base in District 22, She scanned in their casualties and sent a quick message back to HQ for reinforcements until the wall was repaired. A Rabbit came in, the young fixer over their shoulder, mask half destroyed and the rest of their small group missing.
“We got attacked on the way back— I-I’ve never seen anything like it.” The rabbit was out of breath, and had to lay the boy on the floor resting himself on the wall. “Blood. So much blood… More than the hatchery.”
She looked at the fixer, gently getting him over her shoulder again. “File a report about it. Too many guards here for anything to get in.” She brought him to the barely used temporary infirmary, resting him on the bed alone. After a minute of thought she went to her office and came back with some J-Corp restraints, locking him to the side beams of the bed. It wouldn’t hold him for long, but if he woke up panicking it’d give her a moment to calm him down. This was somebody she needed alive after all.
She pulled up a chair, flipped her phone out, and used the quick dial.
‘ Purple ’
Ring ring…
[-]
Elena ticked her tongue in her mouth, watching the last rabbit rush out of the small alley she’d trapped them in— Roland under their arm as they made it through a batch of sunlight. She turned to the flowing pools of blood behind her. She’d caught at least 6 of them. They were dangerous for sure, and they’d make good thralls, but…
She couldn’t stand something of hers being taken!
Even if it wouldn’t be for long. She could track him down anywhere he went, so it wouldn’t be too much of a wait before she had Roland back, but it’d still be a bother.
And…
How was she supposed to go to Salvador after this?! “Oh, I know the sane one was taken and being tortured in some crummy lab in the middle of fuck-all-nowhere, but you have little old me right?” She looked into a small reflective puddle of blood, putting on her best smile.
Damn that’s pretty creepy.
She put her smile away and moved the blood up into a much more refined ball of condensed blood, feeding it into her mouth as she bundled the bodies together, using some hardblood to tie them up for an easier drag.
There was no way in hell she could show up without Roland. He’d think she had eaten him!
Well such a thing wasn’t unlikely , but still!
“Hurr… Pain in the ass.” She groaned, hand clutching Roland’s sword. “No damn idea how to use this thing. At least it’s tough.” The dark metallic sheen, the weight of it too, no wonder he liked this so much. Even a strange whiff of magic from the old world. It was rejecting her, whatever it was. Right, getting Roland back might take… a few months? Maybe a year at worst.
A shadow cast over the small light glowering down the alley. “Hey, is… that really you, Elena?”
She froze. Nostalgia prickled up her spine as the voice awoke a deep, burning resentment.
It couldn’t be.
“Long time no see, right?” His voice, shaky and wary, his hand clutching a dagger, lodged in its sheath yet ready to defend himself. His eyes are as raspberry-red as they ever were.
His stature had grown, no doubt with the diet of blood and all the modifications the City had to offer. He was more confident, wearing clothing that looked to be from a B or A grade workshop. He stood with twice the confidence she ever remembered him having.
Luke Wester.
~~~
??? YEARS AGO
~~~
“ ‘Death by my own hands?’ You fancy yourself a rhetoric, Elena?”
The tall, irrational, vicious bloodfiend stood from his blood soaked throne. His voice was insidious and echoed through the grand banquet hall, of unending sadistic pleasure and the eternal subjects of this elder’s glee, and he stood. He looked down at the army of not-quite kindreds— nor were they bloodbags. They ignored his whim, his blood-line did not extend to them. It was the first time he’d seen him so enraged. The only times he’d gotten so frightfully wrathful was when Elena had left the tower, and when he’d first resisted him at the Mansion. As a human.
The great elder scowled, cape exploding off in a red miasma, sending the creatures around him fleeing to be slaughtered. “ A second kindred will never be enough to defeat their creator. You are not gifted enough! ”
“That’s why I brought an army.” An evil sort of smile creeped onto her face. These husks filled his Castle, an army of mindless, perfectly controlled creatures and persons sewn together, tens of thousands, if not more. “ And no influence you have over me could quench this thirst… One that rings to me, telling me that the blood of the weak and humanity is not enough to ever satisfy me,” A finger covered in hard-blood turned to point up at him. “My own thirst. One that calls to drag every achievement greater than my ambition own into an endless sprawl of me , ”
“When I chose you as my Kindred two-hundred years ago, I did it as easy as a snap of my fingers. When I chose you among the masses of that manor, I did so because you were pathetic. You saw your helplessness, and despite that resisted nonetheless.” The air around him shimmered, goblets of blood exploded into angry weaponry of hardblood, clumps of bloodbags shattering like glass to flow into the palm of his hands, clotting into the size of a marble before exploding over him into a refined hardened armour, the type seen only during the ancient wars against old humanity. Plates of refined, hardened blood covered him from head to toe, only small slits of eye holes were exposed. “ And I can— I WILL reduce you to that pathetic, snivelling woman I took that day, and then I shall rid this world of you for good.”
“ I won’t let you hurt our father!” West stepped between them. “Elena! This is filial impiety! You cannot do this!”
“West you idiot. After all this you still side with him? I suppose that’s the blood curse speaking. I still can’t believe you’re so weak willed as to buckle to it to pathetically, even after everything he’s done to you.” Not once did she turn her eyes to him. Her face, half covered in hard-blood; proof of her gluttonous blood feasts that had transpired so recently. Her body was protected by special metal he’d never seen. Around her hips, stakes were buckled into place and in her hand she held what looked like a shield covered in sharp, sparkling spikes, another type of alloy he’d never seen.
“ Step aside, my kindred.” Their father snarled, raising his hand to flick him away. A sort of tongue from one of Elena’s creatures pierced into his body with a painful wound to his stomach, and hardened its appendage inside of him, pulling him out before Dracula could injure him. The creature leapt away with him and its tongue softened once he was out of any significant danger. He did not turn to him, eyes honed on his daughter. “Your creator will firmly show you where you stand in this family.”
“No!! I can fight with you!” He attempted to claw his way back, but these creatures were immense in both strength and number. Just three pinned him with ease, and there must have been hundreds in the hall alone. His sister waved her hand and they relented. Tears of blood welled in his eyes.
“Leave, West. When I become the strongest, It’ll be a path forged of the most potential bloodfiends can offer me. I’ve no need of something like you.” Elena did not give him the courtesy of eye contact. If he was free right now, he could’ve attacked her, earned father’s praise even… “Nothing as useless and passive as mere eye-candy deserves a place in my story.”
The words froze him in place.
Dracula turned his head to him, looking through him, as worthless as the air he breathed. “Take your kindred and leave me to kill your sister, or you’ll share the same fate as her. Useless damn kindred. ”
Even after minutes of walking, the blood-creatures were unending. By the time he left the castle, he saw how surrounded Dracula’s palace was. Him and his group of kindred— people he’d trip to spare from both his sister and father— all gasped in shock and fear, some weeping at the thought of their grand creator dying to his own kindred, torn to shreds by inhuman monsters of patchwork and beastly leather. The creatures did not react to them as they passed by.
They dared not poke the beasts.
~~~
PRESENT
~~~
“I take it you won.” West didn’t raise his eyes from the bodies at Elena’s feet. She huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Of course I did. I had a hundred years to prepare while he was sitting on his britches making you and your kin dance like dogs for him.” She scowled impatiently. “Why are you here? Want me to beg for mercy after what I did to your kindred in the outskirts?”
“You wouldn’t, even if I were able to defeat you.” He looked up, wearily. He was scared, so, so scared. His sister had regained so much strength already, she’d feasted on so many so quickly. The elders were getting less and less patient with her. “I just wanted to see if you were the same bloodfiend after all this time.”
“Of course I am. The dream hasn’t changed either. I’ll become as strong as blood allows me to, and then I’ll surpass even that, all until I’m…” She paused. Her dream of touching the sun, it… wasn’t something she wanted to talk to him about. It was all because of his blood that coursed through her veins. “I’m lucky enough to have found quite the interesting partner to allow me to do so. He’s quite entwined with these ‘coloured fixers’ humans are so enamoured with nowadays.” She ripped the suits off the R-corp Rabbits, inspecting the durability of it, eyeing every inch and acting as if he weren’t there. “Anything else you want?”
Time for the big news. “The elders want you gone, Elena.”
“Of course they do. They’ve wanted me gone for the last, what, five-hundred years?” She rolled her eyes. “They’re too weak. Not enough feasting. Pity I missed out on the blood war. Your kindred spoke of it in the outskirts.” She began cutting the Rabbits open, using a mix of her own blood and some strange dark-steel sword to sever and cut with ease. “I heard Don-Quixote fought in it. That man would’ve been as strong as Dracula, nay? I heard he was a great deal kinder too.”
“You could… say that. Did news of Lamancha-land reach you in the outskirts?” She snickered at the name, but didn’t reply. He continued. “To foster diplomacy between Human and Bloodfiend. To show that we’re not so different. It, well… They didn’t drink blood there, not at all.” That got her to freeze.
“But the blood-thirst…”
“They created some sort of blood-brick. Bunch of animal blood and food mixed with a few drops of human blood. Hemobars— they didn’t work for too long. I got my hands on one and they’re, well… about as tasty as blood would be for a normal person. They hardly do anything to satiate the Thirst.” Her attention rolled into disappointment, and she got back into her work. “They all snapped, apparently they killed Don-Quixote in a huge revolt, and in retaliation he trapped them all inside a blood barrier and shrunk it down to hide away his failures.”
“So, one of the elders are gone? Must’ve left a power vacuum.” She wondered idly.
“I guess. The area’s mostly known for its building materials now. Is this really how you make your… husks?”
“Sure is. These guys are tough, some of the most premium meat I’ve gotten to work with since I came back to the City. Oh, right, are you with the elders or not?” She gave him a suspect glance. “Wouldn’t matter actually.” She shook her head and continued back with her work.
“I’m on my own now. Same with my kindred. Some of them still work for me, like the ones that captured you in the outskirts, and ones that chose to leave. I’ve changed, a lot.”
“Mh.” She nodded. “One of my assets got stolen by these things.” She threw a helmet of an R-corp rabbit at him, and he plucked it before it could clatter onto the pooling blood. “Any information on them?”
“R-corp.” He shook his head. “They’re mercenaries— good ones. No fear of death and most of them are drugged up to fight better.” Elena ‘tsked’. “They’re not very vigilant though. You send them in once you find the problem and need something with firepower to solve it. Not the most reliable outside a fight. Very bad at directing their damage away from civilians.”
“Already knew most of that.” Her hands continued working as she spoke, weaving hardblood and veins, muscles and whatever else she did to make these things. “Hm. Guess I’ll need to be sneakier then. No issue, it should be fine as long as—” She hissed as a beam of sun shot through the cloudy sky, pushing herself against the wall, dragging the body by one of its ribs. West raised his eyebrow curiously, before looking behind him cautiously, unaware of the source of her fright?
“Sun’s out today.” He stepped aside much more casually into the shadow of the buildings. “Don’t see much of it with the smoke. Wonder how it’s poking through.” Elena’s eyes bore into him enviously, and she re-doubled her attention on her crafts. “How come you’re not hold up in the old castle? Thought you would’ve turned it into your base like father did.”
“That place? If I stepped into its walls again it’d be too soon. I took as much blood as I could and left a few nights after.” The corpse she’d been working on slowly tumbled to its feet, and she sewed up any damages on its clothes, and it instinctually gripped the R-corp rifle, finger on the trigger. She sighed. “These things are crazy…”
“So, uh. How’s City life?”
“It’s nice. Lots of blood.” She didn’t look too interested in talking to him. “Passed a fixer examination. Grade 5.” She looked a bit happy with herself, smug, even. Granted, an immediate grade 5 was relatively impressive.
“Most bloodfiends tend to stay away from fixer work. Usually we’re the menaces to be fixed, not the other way around. What office are you working for? Or an association if you’re lucky enough.”
“Hum…Association?” She mused to herself. “Right, right, Liu section 2.” He looked shocked. “As an affiliate office, Dawn Office.” That seemed more accurate to him, his shock dissipating.
“An affiliate office huh? I guess you wouldn’t fit in with an association at all. No offence.” Then again, he pitied whoever would take his sister into their office. What he remembered was far from sociable. “It’s been almost… what, seven-hundred years? Got anything to say to me?” He faltered under her annoyed glare. “Y-You know, like… last words?”
“You’re so fucking helpless.” She sighed, pinching her nose. “It’s been almost a millenia and you're still biting for praise of a man long dead— who never even cared about either of us in the first place. You might be his True Kindred but he didn’t care for you any more than he did me.”
“He did. You just weren’t there to see it.” West snarled. “I doubt you would’ve even let him get a last word in. Hell— maybe he did and you’re just not telling me!”
Elena looked a little surprised. “So you have changed. Fine— you want to know what he said before I killed him? When the sun rose on the third day, and the castle was ruined beyond repair, and the light began to boil his skin and he was turning to ash; he said I had a gift, unlike any other.” She only seemed to care about the distress that would cause.
She regaled his last words to the best of her memory.