Chapter One: Another One Bites the Dust

Rituals are interesting to learn about. Not the candles, chanting, or other paranormal forms of rituals but the mundane, tasks you complete regularly because of necessity or to bring yourself comfort. I remember my sister would always think of two nice things she wanted to do for another person the following day before she closed her eyes to embrace sleep.

I sat with my back straight, my posture being ingrained into my muscle memory since childhood, and stared down at the yellowed parchment in silently. I have done this a thousand times in my life. Why I persist in the ritual is honestly a question I would not be capable of answering if it was ever asked of me.

I do not feel as though it brings me comfort, it no longer makes my heart clench with fear as it once did when I read the letter. Yet for some strange reason I find myself continuing the ritual without fail. Stoically I traced the words I had memorized a long time ago, letting myself fall temporarily into memories normally left buried.

10 July 1984

Covenant , Budapest

Dearest A,

Please pardon the poor paper, the scratchy pen, the ungraceful language … It pains me to inform you I am not up to dick presently. I was consequently required to doff myself of those whose company I once sought before the situation could worsen. The monastic women at the Covenant have allowed for a sojourn here until lethargy no longer grasps me in its arms despite my appearance as a mendicant.

It is with a heavy heart that even with the news of remaining here I still am disconsolate...

I apologize, my love, for the illegible scrawl I fear this has become but it is with trepidation that I lay in discomfit thinking on the night I reached my destination. The Lord was most austere yet lacked any ardor one would normally reserve for guests which caused me to worry. My worries were beginning to taper even as he warned me against peregrination, advising it was best to stay in my rooms for the night. Aware more than most, you are, of my inherently obstreperous nature. This was an egregious error on my part because as I found a room with no hinges, I began to lose myself to the land of dreams.

It was just as my eyes were closing that they appeared - two with dark hair and one with gold, the weird sisters. The golden haired one drew me in with her gaze and as my eyes made contact with her own, any attempts to eschew myself from them seemed to evanescent. I was enraptured and instantly beguiled by the very presence of these women. They desired to immolate me just as a goat would sacrifice a sheep to the wolf.

One of the brunette vampires encouraged the blond to 'feed' on me first, saying to her 'Go on! You are first, and we shall follow. Yours is the right to begin.' depicting her to have some sort of status over the others. I am not sure what the hierarchy is but I am most pleased I did not stay around in order to personally find out.

The Lord stopped the three just as I thought I would be lost but the words that followed gave me no comfort, for he said they could have me once he leaves for England.

I was aghast at the revelation and I admit my first thoughts were on you. That night I developed brain fever. The next day I knew the Lord would depart for Home, this imbued my body with the strength it needed to raise myself off the floor and consequently flee, narrowly avoiding being captured once more.

This is how I came to be at this cloister, sorely missing the acumen and warmth that I gain when you are by my side, and I shall take to watching the road fastidiously if I have even a dim chance to see you.

With Sincere Regard,

Yours Truly,

Jonathan Harker

I folded the thick, yellowed parchment into a square once more, following the same lines as I had every time before. I brought a wine glass up to my lips, taking a sip and just barely preventing myself from shivering in pleasure at the wonderful taste, tucking the letter from Jonathan into the drawer of my sturdy oak desk.

I stood up, carrying the glass with me and carefully swirling the dark crimson liquid as to not accidentally spill any, my eyes focused on the newspaper clippings spread out on a whiteboard against a bookshelf. My eyes scanned the black printed words of one article in particular before I grabbed a red marker from the cup eagerly, quickly drawing a dash on the corner of Gulliver Street and Dane Avenue. My eyes flickered from articles to the board, a satisfied look coming across my face when I finally connected the eight spots into one large circle.

"So these are your hunting grounds." I murmured out loud to the empty room, tipping the glass to drain it of it's liquid, before getting changed into my normal hunting clothes. It was time to turn the hunter into the hunted for the night and I was going to enjoy it. I strode to the desk I had left abandoned moments before, sitting on the straight backed chair with ease before reaching out to unlock the tablet sitting innocuously in front of me. I quickly typed in the number from memory and leaned back, patiently waiting for her to pick the phone up. As I waited for the phone to be answered, I held the fabric of my ever present blood red scarf between my fingers, seeing how worn down the material was getting and frowning. I have a couple of spare scarves but I needed to buy a new one soon.

"Auggie! What's up man?" Camilla greeted me cheerfully, her too far apart eyes crinkling in the corner as she smiled into the camera. "Hey, how did that date go-"

"I believe I found him." I said, interrupting Camilla before she could ask too many questions about my activities the prior night. Cammilla's eyes widened but her surprise only lasted a moment before she was all business, as I knew she would be, and I watched as she gathered the dark brown hair that was hanging free around her shoulders into a lopsided topknot of a sort.

"Coordinates?" Camilla asked briskly, her hands already a blur as the camera struggled to keep up with how fast they were moving over a keyboard, the clacking as each finger hit an individual key the only evidence of her efforts.

"There." I replied, showing her the board as I flipped the camera from front facing to the other camera.

"Nice." Camillia whistled appreciatively, renewing her efforts and typing even faster than she had been previously. "You know I won't forget to ask about last night, Auggie. Business now, pleasure later."

"If it is business now, why is it we are still wagging our chins about something as trivial as a dinner plan of mine that has already occurred in the past?" I asked snarkily, regretting it as soon as the words left my mouth because I heard her fingers slow for a moment before picking up speed once more.

"Lucky for you, I can do both." Camilla responded casually, the chair she was sitting in squeaking as she leant back. I took a moment to breathe in the smell of polished wood and books for a moment, relishing in the silence and sense of victory as Camilla closed in on the man I had been after for five months. It was this cat and mouse game that gave birth to my irritability, not Camilla or the sad excuse for a dinner companion last night.

"I am lucky." I acknowledged, my lip curling slightly in amusement as I heard her hum in satisfaction - I was forgiven for my earlier tone.

"Got him, Auggie." stated Camilla with a final few sharp raps on the keyboard in front of her, not bothering to hide the sadistically victorious look on her face when I turned the camera back to face where it could capture my face and the droll gray curtains that served as an unintended backdrop. "Nail this bastard, will you?"

"It would be my pleasure." I replied, my hands clenching slightly in anticipation. I grabbed the tablet off of the stand it was resting on and then headed for the front door of the house I was staying in, only stopping to grab my keys and a black duffle bag on my way out.

"So what went wrong last night?" Camilla asked innocently, her tone almost dripping with barely restrained curiosity.

"What always happens, Cam?" I asked rhetorically, setting the tablet on the stand in my SUV so she could see me as I drove and I her as well. I brought the keys from my pocket to the ignition in an easy, smooth move and threw the car in drive a moment later after the engine came to life.

"He asked about that?" Camilla demanded to know without expecting a reply, her nose crinkling in disgust and outrage on my behalf. "What a pig."

"Where am I going?" I asked, changing the topic as I pulled down a street that was far less occupied than the one I was on a moment ago.

"I narrowed it down to two places based on the normal criteria." Camilla said, her voice breaking up slightly as I drove over a pothole in the street, not paying it any mind as my eyes swept back and forth in wary readiness. "One is an abandoned animal shelter and the other is an old gas station."

"Which one do you think?" I asked, tilting my head slightly as I thought about the same question. If it were me, I would pick the gas station because I wouldn't want to be around that many cages.

"Have you ever heard about Bunnicula?" Camilla asked, staring at me through narrowed eyes as I drove along the street. "Bunny gets turned into a vampire? No way. Gas station."

I snorted at her logic, shaking my head in exasperation mixed with disbelief. "They really made a novel about that?"

"Yeah man!" exclaimed Camilla, throwing her hands up and letting them fall back down to where her lap most likely was. "Granted, he only sucks the jui- Turn left up here, it'll be on the right, juice of carrots."

"Carrots?" I reiterated while my lips morphed into a frown. That honestly sounded disgusting. I turned on to the street she had informed me to turn on to, making sure my lights were off in order to retain the element of surprise.

"You're there." Camila whispered just low enough that I could hear, looking at me with her too far apart brown eyes as though it would be the last time she saw me. Her skin looked almost as fair as mine in the blue glow from her computer monitor, though I knew she was normally a dark brown color.

"I'll call you when the job has been completed." I murmured lowly, turning off the tablet with one hand while I unbuckled myself with the other. I heard the first part of what I knew would be a good luck before Camilla's face was gone and I was thrown into darkness. I sat perfectly still as I strained my still adjusting senses to the limit of their ability. Silently, I grabbed the duffel bag sitting in the passenger seat and opened the car door to get out of the vehicle. I carefully closed the door, wincing slightly as it made a clicking noise upon closing, and strained my ears to see if there were any signs of someone noticing.

Satisfied that no one was currently watching me, I lay the duffel bag gently down on the ground next to the front driver side wheel. I took off the black Field Marshall coat I was wearing and lay it down on top of the bag so my movements would not be obstructed. I was wearing a solid dark blue shirt underneath with a mandarin collar as well as gray tactical pants and combat boots. I had my sheath strapped across my chest, hidden when my coat is on, but still easily accessible with or without it.

I pulled two of the ring daggers out, both with a dark blue grip that gave traction to avoid the daggers from flying out of my hands. There was a building between myself and the gas station Camilla had thought he could be squatting at. I hugged one of the dingy walls of the gray, stone building as I silently made my way to the entrance of the alley that would lead me straight to the gas station. My eyes cut through the night, scanning every inch of the two bricked walls that would be on my left and right if I chose to walk down them. With controlled movements, I stayed in the shadow as I edged myself around the alley to head down it and get to the gas station.

The moon was covered by thick, rolling layers of clouds - the only light peeking through a small gap in the network of fluff but not enough to give an ideal amount of vision. I only had one fourth of the amount of ground to cover now and the eerie silence was broken by a squealing sound less than a mile from here. My hands tightened the grip on my daggers as I tilted my head in order to hear the noise better, tucking a chunk of my auburn hair behind my ear to remove the extra barrier. There was a rhythmic sound that it took a moment for me to place until I heard the squeal once again and realized that was the sound of a truck, the tires going over asphalt and the brakes asking to be checked or changed.

I moved without thinking, dashing around the corner towards where the gas station was before finding the best place to hide - unfortunately, it was behind a dumpster. My nose wrinkled in disgust but it gave me the shadows to sink into, hopefully remaining invisible, as well as providing a stench to cover my own scent so he could not smell me.

I watched with narrowed eyes as a Chevrolet Pickup rounded the corner, paint beginning to peel in various parts covering the surface of the vehicle and giving it an aged look. The truck pulled in near where a gas pump used to be located before parking right in front of it, giving me a view of the tailgate where the license plate should be. I say should be because on the truck it was missing, tore off actually, if the strange marks where it had once been bolted to the truck were anything to go by.

The man who got out of the truck was a few inches taller than me with brown hair and distinguishable facial features from the distance where I was currently watching him as the he rounded a corner to open up the tailgate. My hands clenched the daggers so painfully it hurt myself but I couldn't feel the pain at all because of how transfixed on the scene in front of me I was.

When the gate lowered, it revealed three bodies that I knew were still breathing because of the rise and fall of their chests. I froze as I got an itch on the back of my neck, the kind that usually told you that someone was watching you. I scanned the area but saw no one, so I once again zeroed in on the younger vampire who had grabbed a boy from the bed and swung him easily onto his shoulder.

"I'm supposed to share but I won't tell if you won't." The vampire mockingly told the unconscious boy, snickering to himself and leading the boy toward the same alley I had vacated prior to his arrival.

My mind was already racing in order to make a strategy, thinking about how far of a jump it was between the dumpster and the alley's entrance. The first attack would almost certainly take him by surprise, unless he was playing with me at the moment which considering what he was couldn't be dismissed, and as long as I was precise the boy most likely had a ninety percent chance of surviving the encounter.

Obviously the brunette vampire enjoyed playing with his food since he did not go for the jugular straight away once he finally had the boy pinned to the wall. I knew he was a relatively new vampire because the way he exposed himself, with his back to the world as he worked his way up to being taken over by bloodlust, was an amateur move. One I would be more than happy to exploit.

I moved at top speed, using the dumpster like a spring board as I covered the distance between myself and the other two in a second or less. I had his head in a deadly grip, prepared to snap it as though it were a piece of wood, but I instead I watched as he froze after taking in the situation. Slowly, so I would not misconstrue his intentions most likely, the vampire let go of the boy and we both watched as he slid down the wall unharmed.

"And who are you?" Brunette asked me, a smile playing on his lips when I remained on his back but I could feel how tense underneath me he was. I was the one in control, he knew that he was in a bad spot, and wanted to talk. "Would you mind letting go?"

I stayed silent, tightening my grip as a soundless warning when he moved one of his arms, and I allowed my mind to take a step back and take a second to figure out what was causing me to feel concern presently. There were details that were not adding up. Obviously by his shoddy feeding position and lack of a struggle he was most likely recently turned. Which couldn't fit because the person I've been tracking was adept at covering his tracks - I estimated they were a decade or so younger than I was by the behavior. I felt it before anything else, the same itchy feel on the back of my neck except more persistent this time. On instinct alone I broke the newly born one's neck, pushing off him to throw myself to the left, hearing an object slicing into an object the same instant my feet touched pavement.

Glancing at the wall confirmed the young one had a short sword buried hilt deep into his skull, the blood splatter around the actual head decorating the walls in a mocking way. I turned to face the direction where the blade had come from and locked eyes with a girl who was taller than myself and the other boy. She must have been at least five feet and eleven inches tall. The woman was staring at me, her eyes practically glacial, as she observed the damage.

"I was just starting to get used to this town." She sighed, letting the blonde spiky hair fall in front of her eyes before brushing it away. She gave me a wicked smirk when another sword was pulled from a sheath on her back, the match to the one previously thrown except this sword was full sized instead. "I suppose it is only polite to know the name of the person that is going to kill you. I am Elizabeth Stardet."

"A pleasure." I replied dryly, speaking up to capture her attention in case she decided to look towards the truck where one of the students, a girl, was begining to awaken. "My name is Augustus."

"Well, Augustus, it will certainly be a pleasure to kill you tonight." Elizabeth said casually before lurching forward in a blitz move meant to take an opponent off guard. Her strategy was obvious but irritatingly it was so simple because she didn't need to be fancy. The reach of her weapon gave her an advantage.

We danced back and forth in a wide circle, personally spending half of my efforts in order to move the fight as far from the humans as possible without drawing attention to my goal, and it was she who drew first blood by nicking my shoulder. I focused purely on the fight after she drew blood, brining up a dagger to retaliate with a vicious couple of slices which she just barely parried before I finally feinted, pretending to attack her with my elbow but truly extending my leg as quick as a whip to plow straight into her ribs.

There was an indent in the wall from where she impacted and I could tell I had shaken her up a little when she wiped away blood from her mouth. She performed jumping side kick after standing up quick enough for it to be hard for my eyes to register movement, she followed by a hook kick aimed at my lower body, then two jabs and a hook punch; I blocked the first three and ducked the hook punch, intending to grab her for a grappling match but never getting the opportunity. A burning in my side let me know I had been stabbed and it was only the slight moonlight shining above us that drew my attention to the thick blade extended, and now receding, into her boot.

The moment of distraction, looking at the knife as well as the pain, was enough to give her an open window to bite down on my shoulder. I shouted in pain and then turned the pain into anger, gripping her short hair and yanking as hard as I could. Elizabeth's fangs were imbedded into my skin, causing a chunk of skin to come up at the same time as her head when I forcefully raised it, but she let go when I managed to cut deep into the side of her neck with one of my daggers from the angle we were in.

She was quick, her hand a blur as she threw some kind of projectile at me, but I jumped before tucking into a ball so I would roll on the ground towards the human boy and currently dead vampire. I threw the last three daggers I had on my person in rapid succession, only one of them getting buried into her thigh. She didn't wince as she yanked it out and tossed it to the side while evaluating me.

"This has been fun." Elizabeth said, trying to speak in a casual tone of voice but not quite succeeding as either pain or exertion caused her breath to hitch. She growled in the back of her throat, noticing the slight curl to my lips at her attempt to be nonchalant. "That's it. Let's END THIS!"

Elizabeth dove forward, her body vibrating mid jump and changing into a wolf with its jaw outstretched towards me in mid air. I flung my hand out, wrapped it around something, and dived underneath the grey wolf, coming up on the other side with no more additional injuries. I turned sharply, lifting the short sword I plucked from her changeling's body to a more defensive position, and watching the wolf's breath come as steam as Elizabeth panted in the slightly cold air. A whine got caught in her throat and I watched in surprise as the stomach came open, a cut visible that ran about two feet across and spilled some of the innards onto pavement.

I approached the wolf quickly, plunging the sword into its brain to allow a clean and merciful death - I left it there because vampire's heal wounds incredibly fast, already I could see where her stomach had been healing the damage I caused moments before. I picked up one of my ring daggers, plunged it into the brunette vampire's head, and then picked the boy up with the hand that had the least amount of blood on it in order to take him to the truck. I layed him down into the bed and reached down to close the gate when I noticed a bit of movement out of the corner of my eye from the girl.

"Miss, are you quite alright?" I asked, my voice changing slightly as power seeped into it and caused it to sound almost musical. The girl opened her eyes, frightened blue surrounded by freckles, and I smiled as gently as I could at her when we made eye contact. "You are going to forget this ever happened. You will drive the truck with these boys somewhere safe and wait until you all wake up together. I was never here, you don't know what happened this night."

"I don't know what happened. I'm going to drive us home." She whispered, the blue of her eyes mostly overtaken by the dilated pupils as my power took ahold of her. I handed the keys to her and watched as she mechanically took them, got into the truck, and drove away from the crime.

Once she was out of sight, I turned towards the bodies and small pools of blood that I needed to clean with a resigned feeling inside. I sprinted to the SUV, leaning down to unzip the duffle bag and plucking an item out to put into my ear. I observed my reflection in the mirror as the phone rang, watching uninterestedly as the chunk missing from my shoulder regrew.

"Camilla's City Morgue, you kill 'em, we chill 'em! How can I help you today?" Cam's bubbly voice poured over the bluetooth, causing my shoulders to relax by a fraction and I turned away from the mirror when the last bit of skin on my shoulder was smooth again.

"There were two of the wankers, Cam." I said, still feeling a little 'high' that the thrill of a good fight always gave me. These two were decidedly pathetic compared to most of my targets but it was still enjoyable.

"That actually makes sense."

"Imagine that." I grabbed my duffel and walked at a normal, human pace to the gas station. Reflexively I checked that nothing changed in the two minutes I have been gone; if there was one thing I have learned in my one hundred and fifty years is that caution will save you many a heartache as well as headache.

"I'm guessing by your laid backness that everything went A okay?" Camilla's words had a slight undertone of worry sprinkled on them. It made me feel chuffed to bits that the younger woman worried about my safety despite how often we did this together.

"In all honesty I was jammy tonight." I answered truthfully as I arrived at the bodies and laid the bag down next to them. I fetched the gasoline jug as well as the black paint from the bag, setting them to the side until they were needed.

"What does that even mean?"

I bit back a chuckle, knowing jolly well that the noise would further incense her, before explaining the British slang. "Jammy is the same thing as lucky. I was lucky that they were not more powerful or experienced. One of them put up a decent fight, she was near my age. The other must have been new, he was an an absolute duffer."

"I just wrote that down and stuck it to my computer monitor for future reference." I could hear Camilla moving sheets of paper around on her desk as she spoke. I know she must be knackered considering she got up early this morning and it is now three in the morning where she lives in the eastern time zone - only two hours ahead of me.

"Thank you for the aid tonight." I commented in a gentle tone of voice so I could ease into telling my best mate, the stubborn bugger that she is, to get into bed.

"You're so about to go all Mom hen on me right now, aren't you?"

"Are you getting shirty with me?" I smothered a smile, kneeling into a quick prayer for God to watch over the souls of the lives taken tonight, before standing up and bringing out the machete from its spot in the bag. The silver blade glinted in the slightly more visible moon, showing off a sharp and defined edge.

"If I am?" Camilla challenged, sounding much less threatening than she intended because of the yawn that interrupted her words halfway through.

"You are zonked. Find your bed. Goodnight." My tone left no room for an argument. Camilla was so prepared for sleep that she did not throw a wobbler for my 'command'. It always left me gobsmacked when I hear women speaking in a manner ill befitting a lady - just one example of how much day to day life has changed.

I brought the machete up and then down in a merciless hack that chopped the head off of the brunette vampire easily. I followed the same routine with the woman, who had changed back into her humanoid form upon death, before gingerly setting the machete down onto the ground. Placing both heads toward the feet in order to make sure they would not try to reattach themselves, I emptied the can of gasoline on the bodies with no remorse.

Leaving the soaked bodies for a moment, I grabbed the small can of black paint and used a knife to jimmy the lid off of, exposing the tar black paint within. I splashed the paint on the wall, making absolutely sure to cover all of the blood staining the brick and the floor as well. Once that job was sorted, I gathered the materials lying next to the headless corpses and retreated a safe distance away.

Fishing the matches from a side pocket that contained a pack of fags as well, I lit the cylindrical tube and took a stonking drag. Letting out a grateful hum as I exhaled, the acrid smell of smoke filling the air, I easily lit another match and tossed it between the two dead beings. I repeated the process a few more times so the flames would spread quicker before sitting on my heels, the embers at the end of the cigarette between my lips glowing every time I took a hit.

I always stay to make sure the bodies are burnt up, taking the bones to bury them somewhere else or to completely incinerate them. It would not do to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure - well, I suppose it would truly be at the will of the police here in New Orleans. All the same.

I slipped off my fingerless gloves and slipped on full leather gloves to replace them, not willing to chance a fingerprint on the bodies after I burnt all of them off. I stowed the cigarette butt in the side pocket where I kept the pack and the matches; I would have to be off my trolley to leave a fag laying around with my DNA on the filter from saliva. It would be the same as writing on the wall with the paint that Auggie Murray was here killing people.

After I packed the bones up and checked my work, I spread the ashes around so it didn't look as though two bodies were burnt on the ground. Once satisfied, I loaded everything in the SUV and headed to my current home reflexively. I was not paying attention to the street as I drove almost on autopilot - my mind was already thinking about where I could complete the ritual I usually did after I finished being on a job.

When I realized the time of night it was, coupled with the morning lecture looming ever closer that I was giving, I conceded to myself that I would finish up tomorrow after work. A shag would be bloody brilliant tonight but sleep would be more important for tomorrow. I would pull a fit gent tomorrow to get off with; that leaves me with something to look forward to as well as dream about tonight.

A/N: Hey! This is Chapter One, let me know what you all think? You will be introduced to Marvel characters starting in Chapter Two, so bear with me in the meantime. This is a cross over between Dracula (Bram Stoker - loosely based, I have changed/edited a lot but the names and a portion of the back story was inspired by the novel) and MCU. Also!

Auggie: He is sort of a gender-bender version of Mina Harker? If anyone has seen League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Mina Murray is in that movie as well (same character). Auggie is loosely based off of her - A lot of the background will be very different. I have the next chapter ready, so if I get 5 reviews by tonight then I'll post it. Otherwise, it will be a week! :D

This will be a slash story, as in a homosexual relationship will be the main pairing although it will include many heterosexual relationships as well. (Simply put: There are going to be scenes where two dudes go at it like rabbits and scenes where a boy and a girl shag and possibly a girl and a girl. Lots of snogging (kissing) in between.

I enjoy putting music to scenes, so at the end of each chapter will be a playlist that shows what song I put to what scene. I hope you enjoy the story! The more reviews I receive, the faster the update will be - it motivates me to write like a demon, I swear.

Playlist: Song - Artist - Scene

Inner Demons - Julie Brennan - Start of the chapter/reading letter.

Game of Survival - Ruelle - When Auggie gets off of the phone with Cam. (The first time)

Monster - Skillet - When Auggie gets the drop on the other vampire, saving the kids life.

Another One Bites the Dust - Hidden Citizens version - Auggie smoking a cigarette while watching the bodies burn.