Standard disclaimers apply.
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A blur of blankness swiftly approached. Rikku spun, dropping to the balls of her feet and kicking out one leg, tripping up the dark form. It went sprawling foreword, landing in a cloud of dust on the creaky wooden floor. She shot back to her feet, one leg slipping back, knees bent, and ready for additional combat.
A sharp noise filled the musty air of the ancient house as the black cloaked figure drew two short curved swords. "Bitch," he hissed, light from the moon casting a silvery glow on his extended fangs. He had recovered his balance and was circling her warily. The impatience that his first act had shown was now faded, replaced by an eternal patience.
Rikku braced herself mentally, prepared for him to do anything. Her booted feet scuffed the wooden floor as she matched him step for step. The vampire-type fiend had been alive for a long time. He was at the advantage, but Rikku swore she would be damned before she let him know that.
"Age and wisdom will always triumph over youthful vigor and immaturity," he hissed. His voice grated against Rikku's ears like nails tearing through a chalk board. It sent shivers up her bare arms and made her wish that she had brought earplugs.
"Dream on," she said sharply, her teeth gritted against the unwanted noise. She saw him move, once more a blur of speed. This time the deadly glint of silver came flashing towards her at the same time. She took two quick steps to the left and moved her targe in front of the blades.
The knife lodged solidly into the armor. Rikku twisted her arm, yanking one of his deadly blades out of his grasp and narrowly avoiding the other as it came towards her in a wide deadly arc. She felt a thin trickle of blood trail across her stomach. She didn't look down to check the injury as they broke apart once more. Instead she kept her eyes locked on his red orbs and felt the wound with her stomach. It wasn't serious, barely deeper then a paper cut.
"You missed, you know," she said cheerily, knowing how irritating a careless tone could be in battle.
"A mistake that I won't repeat," the vampire acknowledged.
Rikku tilted her head towards him in an open invitation for him to try his best. "You will certainly TRY not to miss again," she said, putting an emphasis on the word try. "However, I grow bored with defense...." she let her voice trail off and wiggled her fingers to bleed off tension.
"You would attack?" the vampire asked in amusement. "Truly, this is something that I must see." He stopped circling and flung his cloak to the side, replacing his remaining blade in a sheath at his waist. "Come when you wish to die," he offered gallantly.
Rikku stepped back, raising one hand carelessly and calling up a nearly effortless Fire spell. "Hope you like it hot," she teased as the flames caught on his cloak.
He slipped out of it with watery grace that only a vampire could match. "Actually, no," he said a feral smile playing across his face. He was enjoying himself. That fit in with what Rikku had heard about him. He preferred his victims to put up a fight. He enjoyed it more that way, or so the rumors said.
Rikku didn't hesitate. As soon as his cloak was moving from his body, she shot foreword. The fingers on her right hand curved into a tight fist, pressing into the sensor pad in the palm of her hand. Three deadly claws sprang out of their sheath on top of her hand. Each of them was curved and sharpened to the point where she could slice through metal like a hot knife through butter. Deadly four inch long blades of destruction.
She aimed a punch for his head, watching in satisfaction as he pulled away with a torrent of stolen crimson blood seeping from three deep punctures above his left eye. "Bitch," he hissed again, his own hands forming into claws as she came in for another attack.
He charged at her, arm swinging widely in a blow meant to shred her throat. She drove her fist upwards, under his rib cage; searching for his heart. His claws racked across her chest in slashing fashion.
Rikku allowed herself to fall backwards, letting his own weight drive her clawed fist into his chest. Practice told her when she had found his heart and she twisted her fist just right to halt it's beating.
The weight over her body became heavier as life whooshed from the vampire's body. "Not bad," he attempted to say, his voice slurred as the rigors of true death set in.
"Not good either," Rikku replied, pushing him off of her as the light in his red eyes faded and his body vanished. "I'm usually neater then that." She fingered the fabric covering her breasts, and winced at the cuts adorning her skin. They were deep and looked painful.
She supposed, as she began to methodically clean her weapon of the vampire's blood, that the wound would be worse later. 'Later' was when the wound had to be purified, a painful progress that involved a lot of Holy Water. Judging by the depths of the wounds, she was going to have to apply it for a long period of time. Briefly, she considered going to visit Yuna.
The ex-summoner would help her clean the vampire fiend introduced wounds and purify them. Hell, she'd even get Wakka and Kimihri to hold her thrashing body down. She wouldn't have to suffer in silence by herself; or rather, she wouldn't be the only one who had to hear her screams. But Yuna would worry about her twice as much and that wasn't what she wanted. And she'd be home for a brief while, safe from her nightmares, which was what she wanted, but couldn't have. Not until the fiends were gone. Not until the people were safe.
Shortly after Sin's defeat, long unnoticed deaths were brought to the public's attention. Bodies were found drained off all blood, neat puncture marks marring their necks. That was the work of vampires. Others were found half eaten and ripped apart as if a savage beast had torn through them. Those were the victims of the werewolves. And then the victims of the witches and sorceress were found in various places, their bodies drained off life and mummified - most times, but not always.
Yuna, the newly elected president of Spira, had called upon her friends to combat the menace. But Wakka and Lulu were expecting a child and neither wished to face the possibility of losing each other. Kimihri had declined, opting instead to stay at Yuna's side and protect her from any who might wish her harm. That had left the only remaining guardian, Rikku.
She reflected wryly, that she could have turned Yuna down. She could still be bouncing around Luca, learning to play blitzball and live in a world without Sin, danger, and death. But that wasn't what she had chosen. She had picked a different path and couldn't turn back now.
She exited the old house, setting it ablaze with Fira. The wood crackled warmly and a thick black smoke began to gather over the house. She stood close to the blaze, feeling the heat on her body and smelling the putrid scent of burning flesh from inside. All of the vampire's recent victims - twenty-two in number - were inside with it's corpse.
She had learned the hard way how to treat the dead of a vampire. To keep them from rising with the death of their master, she took their heads, hearts, and burned them to cinders. Not even a particle of bone would survive the blaze that she had planned.
The villagers, gathered fearfully behind her and in the distance, were watching her. She could feel their stares on her back, burning her as much as the heat from the house was blistering her face. She sighed and turned around.
"It had to be done, you know," she called out. "If I didn't, they'd come back...." she let her voice trail off.
Being a Fiend Hunter / Vampire Hunter was an thankless job. No one cared that they were no longer being attacker and preyed upon like animals. They resented her for forbidding proper Sendings. "The dead," they argued, "Should rest in the Farplane." They didn't understand that vampire, witch, and werewolf victims couldn't access the Farplane. They automatically became.....tainted and in many ways, evil.
She had learned the hard way what happened when you tried to Send them. They rose with the power of their murderers coursing through their veins. However, unlike their murderers, they were unable to think. They were driven by a mindless desire to kill. They became zombies of the highest caliber and attacked with mindless persistence. She had nearly died the first time. The rest of the town hadn't survived.
She glanced sidelong at the fire, casting another Fira spell to keep in blazing brightly. "Sorry," she murmured, resisting the urge to lie and tell them that they would go to the Farplane after they were burned.
The people gradually cleared out. The house continued to burn merrily. The sky grew red with the coming of dawn, an event that Rikku was learning to cherish more and more. For whatever reason, most of the fiends she hunted didn't surface in the daylight hours. They waited for the dark depths of the night to seep across the land, soaking into the very essence of everything.
It was a nice sunrise, Rikku supposed. The rose colored hues gathered slowly on the horizon, turning the sky a brightening shade of red - almost crimson, the color of blood. Then it lightened, shifting from red to violet blue and finally to an indigo color with a blazing golden orb hanging low on the horizon.
She put her hand over her breast, feeling the cuts for depth once more. The vampire had been one of the most talented that she had encountered yet; although the number one spot was still occupied by her first vamp. He had been the only one to hold her up with injuries for more then a day.......He had been the only one to escape from her silver claws.
She had laid in bed for a month after his attack recovering from multiple bite wounds and blood loss. Recovering from the Holy Water baths that had been necessary. She hadn't thought that she was going to survive that fight. In fact, she knew that she wouldn't have survived if not for the first glimmers of sunlight striking his poised body.
"Ah, sweet sunlight," she murmured gratefully. She pushed her hair away from her face, feeling the jagged scar that ran into her hairline. She had gotten that wound from him as well.
The house was finally burned beyond recognition. The flames had all smoldered and died. The bodies had been burnt to nothingness. She turned away and slipped out of the village, not wanting to talk it's people.
A couple of particularly brave fiends attacked her on the road back to her vehicle. She put them out of their misery with practiced ease, reflecting that at one point they would have given her a run for her money. "Just not good enough anymore," she told the last one as she boarded her single passenger aircraft.
Painted in a vibrant green, it had the words, "Little Guardian," written on the side in silver paint. It had been a gift from Yuna and Cid, her father. It was serving her well, in spite of the disliked name.
She banged open a small compartment, pulling out a thick roll of gauze to stop the bleeding on her chest. Then she soaked it thoroughly in Holy Water and stripped off her shirt.
"I'm sorry!" she heard a guy apologize instantly.
She whirled, forgetting about covering herself and falling into a fighting stance. She hadn't heard anyone approaching and that couldn't be a good sign. She closed her hands - both hands - letting two sets of claws snap into position. "What do you want?" she demanded.
"You to put your shirt on," the young man responded. He had one arm pulled across his face, covering his eyes completely and his back was turned to her. "And once you've done that, I wouldn't mind if you gave me directions...."
Rikku didn't relax her guard at all. "Who are you?" she demanded, not shifting from her stance in the slightest bit.
The man turned, obviously assuming that she had gotten dressed. Instantly his face turned crimson as blood was pumped to it in a rush. "I'm so sorry, I thought that you had gotten dressed!" he apologized quickly. He had turned his back to her and had both arms over his face now.
Rikku almost relaxed. He was an attractive young man. Midnight black hair spilled loosely down his back, his shorter bangs pushed up by a crimson headband. His eyes looked to be a dark brown, but instead of being warm and inviting, they had a dark and mysterious feel to them. He looked frail and unable to hurt anyone, but at the same time, she got a spooked feeling in the pit of her stomach that was similar to her danger alert for vampires.
"Turn around and smile," she order stiffly.
".....Are you dressed...? he asked with equal stiffness. His voice muted slightly by the high red front to his cloak.
"No, just do it," Rikku reordered. "Or I'll be forced to attack."
".......attack?" he questioned.
Rikku nodded her head. "Yeah, attack. You sent my danger alarms into orbit and..."
"Ah, did I startle you when I arrived?" he asked. "They is no need to fear me - "
"Who says I'm afraid?" Rikku shot back.
"And turning and smiling will prove what to you?" the young man asked. He ignored her question and acted like she had never even posed it. He knew as clearly as she did that she was frightened.
"That you're human," Rikku said firmly.
"Am I?" he asked. "That's an interesting.......assumption."
Rikku felt a surge of panic and triumph. On one hand, she had correctly assumed that he was a baddie - probably a vampire by the looks of things - but he was also walking around during the daylight hours. She needed to be able to relax during the day, but if they could do what they wanted in sunlight, then she would have to be on guard all the time.
"Vampire scum," she accused. "How can - "
He sighed heavily and spun around. "I'd appreciate it if you put your shirt on," he said, dropping a silver rifle to the ground. "I'm not here to hurt you and......" his voice trailed off. When he began to speak again, his voice was thick with amusement. "I'm not a vampire."
Rikku didn't believe him for a second. She smashed herself into his body, claws digging into his shoulder while her left hand attempted to prove the point that he was a vampire. She slipped three fingers into his mouth, probing his incisors and waiting for the fangs to grow.
She had made the fatal mistake of assuming someone was a vampire before. The man had died and turned out to be a regular human playing a joke. She had vowed never to make the same mistake again.
Before she killed, she always knew what species she victim was. For vampires - most of them flaunted what they were - the rest were unable to resist that pull of blood. She had cut her fingers on her claws before pushing them into the young man's mouth.
Fangs didn't grow. They should have.
Rikku closed her green eyes and took a deep breath. The human lying under her compact form wasn't moving. Apparently he had decided to wait until she was finished molesting him before he said anything.
She stood up, offering him a hand. "Sorry, I've had a rough night," she apologized and explained at the same time.
"I can see that," the man responded. "Here, I know a couple curative spells. Allow me to cure you - "
"NO!" Rikku exclaimed sharply, casting Reflect to make sure any attempts to heal her injured body didn't occur.
He looked alarmed at her sudden outburst, but didn't push the matter. "Very well, why not?" he inquired.
"Vampire wounds," she said, turning away from him as her half nudity became apparent. Now it was her turn to get crimson in the face. "They need to be cleaned before I can heal them completely."
"I see," the young man said. "Cure," he added softly. She felt the familiar flare of magic and whirled around, eyes wild.
"What are you doing?" she snapped. "I thought that I just - "
He shook his head slightly. "That will be enough for today, Miss......" his voice trailed off in search of her name. When she didn't supply it, he picked up her discarded Holy Water soaked gauze and began to wrap it tightly around her chest. "......Vincent Valentine.....I used to be....." he shook his head slightly. "Just my name will do," he murmured more for his benefit then hers.
Rikku didn't respond. She was hissing as the normally soothing water came in contact with her enflamed breasts. Like acid, it burned at the contaminated skin. She moaned softly in suppressed agony. The wound was definitely going to be hell to treat. She tried to imagine herself pouring and scrubbing the purifying liquid and winced again.
Then she felt herself get picked up. "Hey!" she protested in surprise. "Valentine, was it? Stop....er.....put me down!" She felt slightly confused at being picked up by him after deciding that he wasn't a threat. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
Silence greeted her demand.
"I'm only going to warn you once that you don't - "
"Sssh," Vincent said quietly. "You're wounds need to be treated before they get infected."
"Then put me down so I can treat them," Rikku hissed. "I don't need to be carried around and treated like an injured - "
"Don't need?" Vincent echoed. "Or.....don't want?" He set her down by a stream and dipped her into the water. "And you're the one who said you were injured."
Rikku looked away. "I don't need any hel-"
"And I won't tell anyone when you scream," Vincent interjected. "You don't have to been a tough as nails vampire slayer for seven minutes. Then, when your body is purified, you can be as self-righteous as you want. I won't tell a soul. I promise."
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Author's notes; I started this around Halloween. Does anyone like it?
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan
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A blur of blankness swiftly approached. Rikku spun, dropping to the balls of her feet and kicking out one leg, tripping up the dark form. It went sprawling foreword, landing in a cloud of dust on the creaky wooden floor. She shot back to her feet, one leg slipping back, knees bent, and ready for additional combat.
A sharp noise filled the musty air of the ancient house as the black cloaked figure drew two short curved swords. "Bitch," he hissed, light from the moon casting a silvery glow on his extended fangs. He had recovered his balance and was circling her warily. The impatience that his first act had shown was now faded, replaced by an eternal patience.
Rikku braced herself mentally, prepared for him to do anything. Her booted feet scuffed the wooden floor as she matched him step for step. The vampire-type fiend had been alive for a long time. He was at the advantage, but Rikku swore she would be damned before she let him know that.
"Age and wisdom will always triumph over youthful vigor and immaturity," he hissed. His voice grated against Rikku's ears like nails tearing through a chalk board. It sent shivers up her bare arms and made her wish that she had brought earplugs.
"Dream on," she said sharply, her teeth gritted against the unwanted noise. She saw him move, once more a blur of speed. This time the deadly glint of silver came flashing towards her at the same time. She took two quick steps to the left and moved her targe in front of the blades.
The knife lodged solidly into the armor. Rikku twisted her arm, yanking one of his deadly blades out of his grasp and narrowly avoiding the other as it came towards her in a wide deadly arc. She felt a thin trickle of blood trail across her stomach. She didn't look down to check the injury as they broke apart once more. Instead she kept her eyes locked on his red orbs and felt the wound with her stomach. It wasn't serious, barely deeper then a paper cut.
"You missed, you know," she said cheerily, knowing how irritating a careless tone could be in battle.
"A mistake that I won't repeat," the vampire acknowledged.
Rikku tilted her head towards him in an open invitation for him to try his best. "You will certainly TRY not to miss again," she said, putting an emphasis on the word try. "However, I grow bored with defense...." she let her voice trail off and wiggled her fingers to bleed off tension.
"You would attack?" the vampire asked in amusement. "Truly, this is something that I must see." He stopped circling and flung his cloak to the side, replacing his remaining blade in a sheath at his waist. "Come when you wish to die," he offered gallantly.
Rikku stepped back, raising one hand carelessly and calling up a nearly effortless Fire spell. "Hope you like it hot," she teased as the flames caught on his cloak.
He slipped out of it with watery grace that only a vampire could match. "Actually, no," he said a feral smile playing across his face. He was enjoying himself. That fit in with what Rikku had heard about him. He preferred his victims to put up a fight. He enjoyed it more that way, or so the rumors said.
Rikku didn't hesitate. As soon as his cloak was moving from his body, she shot foreword. The fingers on her right hand curved into a tight fist, pressing into the sensor pad in the palm of her hand. Three deadly claws sprang out of their sheath on top of her hand. Each of them was curved and sharpened to the point where she could slice through metal like a hot knife through butter. Deadly four inch long blades of destruction.
She aimed a punch for his head, watching in satisfaction as he pulled away with a torrent of stolen crimson blood seeping from three deep punctures above his left eye. "Bitch," he hissed again, his own hands forming into claws as she came in for another attack.
He charged at her, arm swinging widely in a blow meant to shred her throat. She drove her fist upwards, under his rib cage; searching for his heart. His claws racked across her chest in slashing fashion.
Rikku allowed herself to fall backwards, letting his own weight drive her clawed fist into his chest. Practice told her when she had found his heart and she twisted her fist just right to halt it's beating.
The weight over her body became heavier as life whooshed from the vampire's body. "Not bad," he attempted to say, his voice slurred as the rigors of true death set in.
"Not good either," Rikku replied, pushing him off of her as the light in his red eyes faded and his body vanished. "I'm usually neater then that." She fingered the fabric covering her breasts, and winced at the cuts adorning her skin. They were deep and looked painful.
She supposed, as she began to methodically clean her weapon of the vampire's blood, that the wound would be worse later. 'Later' was when the wound had to be purified, a painful progress that involved a lot of Holy Water. Judging by the depths of the wounds, she was going to have to apply it for a long period of time. Briefly, she considered going to visit Yuna.
The ex-summoner would help her clean the vampire fiend introduced wounds and purify them. Hell, she'd even get Wakka and Kimihri to hold her thrashing body down. She wouldn't have to suffer in silence by herself; or rather, she wouldn't be the only one who had to hear her screams. But Yuna would worry about her twice as much and that wasn't what she wanted. And she'd be home for a brief while, safe from her nightmares, which was what she wanted, but couldn't have. Not until the fiends were gone. Not until the people were safe.
Shortly after Sin's defeat, long unnoticed deaths were brought to the public's attention. Bodies were found drained off all blood, neat puncture marks marring their necks. That was the work of vampires. Others were found half eaten and ripped apart as if a savage beast had torn through them. Those were the victims of the werewolves. And then the victims of the witches and sorceress were found in various places, their bodies drained off life and mummified - most times, but not always.
Yuna, the newly elected president of Spira, had called upon her friends to combat the menace. But Wakka and Lulu were expecting a child and neither wished to face the possibility of losing each other. Kimihri had declined, opting instead to stay at Yuna's side and protect her from any who might wish her harm. That had left the only remaining guardian, Rikku.
She reflected wryly, that she could have turned Yuna down. She could still be bouncing around Luca, learning to play blitzball and live in a world without Sin, danger, and death. But that wasn't what she had chosen. She had picked a different path and couldn't turn back now.
She exited the old house, setting it ablaze with Fira. The wood crackled warmly and a thick black smoke began to gather over the house. She stood close to the blaze, feeling the heat on her body and smelling the putrid scent of burning flesh from inside. All of the vampire's recent victims - twenty-two in number - were inside with it's corpse.
She had learned the hard way how to treat the dead of a vampire. To keep them from rising with the death of their master, she took their heads, hearts, and burned them to cinders. Not even a particle of bone would survive the blaze that she had planned.
The villagers, gathered fearfully behind her and in the distance, were watching her. She could feel their stares on her back, burning her as much as the heat from the house was blistering her face. She sighed and turned around.
"It had to be done, you know," she called out. "If I didn't, they'd come back...." she let her voice trail off.
Being a Fiend Hunter / Vampire Hunter was an thankless job. No one cared that they were no longer being attacker and preyed upon like animals. They resented her for forbidding proper Sendings. "The dead," they argued, "Should rest in the Farplane." They didn't understand that vampire, witch, and werewolf victims couldn't access the Farplane. They automatically became.....tainted and in many ways, evil.
She had learned the hard way what happened when you tried to Send them. They rose with the power of their murderers coursing through their veins. However, unlike their murderers, they were unable to think. They were driven by a mindless desire to kill. They became zombies of the highest caliber and attacked with mindless persistence. She had nearly died the first time. The rest of the town hadn't survived.
She glanced sidelong at the fire, casting another Fira spell to keep in blazing brightly. "Sorry," she murmured, resisting the urge to lie and tell them that they would go to the Farplane after they were burned.
The people gradually cleared out. The house continued to burn merrily. The sky grew red with the coming of dawn, an event that Rikku was learning to cherish more and more. For whatever reason, most of the fiends she hunted didn't surface in the daylight hours. They waited for the dark depths of the night to seep across the land, soaking into the very essence of everything.
It was a nice sunrise, Rikku supposed. The rose colored hues gathered slowly on the horizon, turning the sky a brightening shade of red - almost crimson, the color of blood. Then it lightened, shifting from red to violet blue and finally to an indigo color with a blazing golden orb hanging low on the horizon.
She put her hand over her breast, feeling the cuts for depth once more. The vampire had been one of the most talented that she had encountered yet; although the number one spot was still occupied by her first vamp. He had been the only one to hold her up with injuries for more then a day.......He had been the only one to escape from her silver claws.
She had laid in bed for a month after his attack recovering from multiple bite wounds and blood loss. Recovering from the Holy Water baths that had been necessary. She hadn't thought that she was going to survive that fight. In fact, she knew that she wouldn't have survived if not for the first glimmers of sunlight striking his poised body.
"Ah, sweet sunlight," she murmured gratefully. She pushed her hair away from her face, feeling the jagged scar that ran into her hairline. She had gotten that wound from him as well.
The house was finally burned beyond recognition. The flames had all smoldered and died. The bodies had been burnt to nothingness. She turned away and slipped out of the village, not wanting to talk it's people.
A couple of particularly brave fiends attacked her on the road back to her vehicle. She put them out of their misery with practiced ease, reflecting that at one point they would have given her a run for her money. "Just not good enough anymore," she told the last one as she boarded her single passenger aircraft.
Painted in a vibrant green, it had the words, "Little Guardian," written on the side in silver paint. It had been a gift from Yuna and Cid, her father. It was serving her well, in spite of the disliked name.
She banged open a small compartment, pulling out a thick roll of gauze to stop the bleeding on her chest. Then she soaked it thoroughly in Holy Water and stripped off her shirt.
"I'm sorry!" she heard a guy apologize instantly.
She whirled, forgetting about covering herself and falling into a fighting stance. She hadn't heard anyone approaching and that couldn't be a good sign. She closed her hands - both hands - letting two sets of claws snap into position. "What do you want?" she demanded.
"You to put your shirt on," the young man responded. He had one arm pulled across his face, covering his eyes completely and his back was turned to her. "And once you've done that, I wouldn't mind if you gave me directions...."
Rikku didn't relax her guard at all. "Who are you?" she demanded, not shifting from her stance in the slightest bit.
The man turned, obviously assuming that she had gotten dressed. Instantly his face turned crimson as blood was pumped to it in a rush. "I'm so sorry, I thought that you had gotten dressed!" he apologized quickly. He had turned his back to her and had both arms over his face now.
Rikku almost relaxed. He was an attractive young man. Midnight black hair spilled loosely down his back, his shorter bangs pushed up by a crimson headband. His eyes looked to be a dark brown, but instead of being warm and inviting, they had a dark and mysterious feel to them. He looked frail and unable to hurt anyone, but at the same time, she got a spooked feeling in the pit of her stomach that was similar to her danger alert for vampires.
"Turn around and smile," she order stiffly.
".....Are you dressed...? he asked with equal stiffness. His voice muted slightly by the high red front to his cloak.
"No, just do it," Rikku reordered. "Or I'll be forced to attack."
".......attack?" he questioned.
Rikku nodded her head. "Yeah, attack. You sent my danger alarms into orbit and..."
"Ah, did I startle you when I arrived?" he asked. "They is no need to fear me - "
"Who says I'm afraid?" Rikku shot back.
"And turning and smiling will prove what to you?" the young man asked. He ignored her question and acted like she had never even posed it. He knew as clearly as she did that she was frightened.
"That you're human," Rikku said firmly.
"Am I?" he asked. "That's an interesting.......assumption."
Rikku felt a surge of panic and triumph. On one hand, she had correctly assumed that he was a baddie - probably a vampire by the looks of things - but he was also walking around during the daylight hours. She needed to be able to relax during the day, but if they could do what they wanted in sunlight, then she would have to be on guard all the time.
"Vampire scum," she accused. "How can - "
He sighed heavily and spun around. "I'd appreciate it if you put your shirt on," he said, dropping a silver rifle to the ground. "I'm not here to hurt you and......" his voice trailed off. When he began to speak again, his voice was thick with amusement. "I'm not a vampire."
Rikku didn't believe him for a second. She smashed herself into his body, claws digging into his shoulder while her left hand attempted to prove the point that he was a vampire. She slipped three fingers into his mouth, probing his incisors and waiting for the fangs to grow.
She had made the fatal mistake of assuming someone was a vampire before. The man had died and turned out to be a regular human playing a joke. She had vowed never to make the same mistake again.
Before she killed, she always knew what species she victim was. For vampires - most of them flaunted what they were - the rest were unable to resist that pull of blood. She had cut her fingers on her claws before pushing them into the young man's mouth.
Fangs didn't grow. They should have.
Rikku closed her green eyes and took a deep breath. The human lying under her compact form wasn't moving. Apparently he had decided to wait until she was finished molesting him before he said anything.
She stood up, offering him a hand. "Sorry, I've had a rough night," she apologized and explained at the same time.
"I can see that," the man responded. "Here, I know a couple curative spells. Allow me to cure you - "
"NO!" Rikku exclaimed sharply, casting Reflect to make sure any attempts to heal her injured body didn't occur.
He looked alarmed at her sudden outburst, but didn't push the matter. "Very well, why not?" he inquired.
"Vampire wounds," she said, turning away from him as her half nudity became apparent. Now it was her turn to get crimson in the face. "They need to be cleaned before I can heal them completely."
"I see," the young man said. "Cure," he added softly. She felt the familiar flare of magic and whirled around, eyes wild.
"What are you doing?" she snapped. "I thought that I just - "
He shook his head slightly. "That will be enough for today, Miss......" his voice trailed off in search of her name. When she didn't supply it, he picked up her discarded Holy Water soaked gauze and began to wrap it tightly around her chest. "......Vincent Valentine.....I used to be....." he shook his head slightly. "Just my name will do," he murmured more for his benefit then hers.
Rikku didn't respond. She was hissing as the normally soothing water came in contact with her enflamed breasts. Like acid, it burned at the contaminated skin. She moaned softly in suppressed agony. The wound was definitely going to be hell to treat. She tried to imagine herself pouring and scrubbing the purifying liquid and winced again.
Then she felt herself get picked up. "Hey!" she protested in surprise. "Valentine, was it? Stop....er.....put me down!" She felt slightly confused at being picked up by him after deciding that he wasn't a threat. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
Silence greeted her demand.
"I'm only going to warn you once that you don't - "
"Sssh," Vincent said quietly. "You're wounds need to be treated before they get infected."
"Then put me down so I can treat them," Rikku hissed. "I don't need to be carried around and treated like an injured - "
"Don't need?" Vincent echoed. "Or.....don't want?" He set her down by a stream and dipped her into the water. "And you're the one who said you were injured."
Rikku looked away. "I don't need any hel-"
"And I won't tell anyone when you scream," Vincent interjected. "You don't have to been a tough as nails vampire slayer for seven minutes. Then, when your body is purified, you can be as self-righteous as you want. I won't tell a soul. I promise."
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Author's notes; I started this around Halloween. Does anyone like it?
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan