How to Hunt the Undead

A/N This is the Fifth part of the Athame chronicles. An AU based off of the lovely Kittyclaw's story How to Begin A Journey. Each of the How To stories are loosely tied together.

To best understand what's going on, start with How to Not Play Chess, and go from there.

Also, this story is a fair bit more intense than the last few have been. Just so you are aware.

Milly silently watched the confrontation between Yumi and Sissi. She didn't really get what a lot of it was about, but it basically broke down to Yumi wanting to keep Ulrich to herself. Milly wasn't certain, but she was fairly certain Yumi wanted to turn him into her thrall, so she could use him for his blood whenever she wanted to. It was disgusting.

And yet a part of Milly didn't want to do what needed to be done. Three times she had actually met Yumi, and Tamiya had even interviewed her for the school paper. She came across as a perfectly normal teenager, someone with hopes and dreams and stress and all that perfectly normal human stuff.

She had to remind herself that all Yumi really was was just a monster that had gotten very good at playing at being human, a creature that sustained itself on the life force of those around it. It was for the best of everyone here at the school and even for the best of what was left of Yumi that it was put down. Its charade ended.

The question was how to do it? The garlic hadn't worked. Which was awfully disappointing. Using a stake or something was certainly viable, but she couldn't just run up and stab her, that would attract far too much attention, and she'd only just finished her detention for getting caught up in the boy's dorm rooms.

Maybe she could recruit Sissi to help her out? The older girl clearly had no idea just how dangerous Yumi could be.

She chewed on her pencil eraser looking out the window from the media room. The sun was out. Something clicked. There was going to be a fire drill tomorrow. If she could get Sissi to use her geeky friends to expose Yumi to the sun, it would hurt her and she would try to get away. Milly could lure her somewhere safe and away from everyone else. The wooded stake in her pocket would take care of everything else.

Strangely enough, everything worked out quite well. Sissi was willing to help, even if she thought it was just to humiliate the vampire girl. So there she was, ditching class and hiding in the tool gardener's tool shed, just far enough out from the school that no one would notice what was going on.

In the distance she could hear the bells ringing, ushering everyone out of the building and into the safety of the courtyards and soccer pitch. She checked through everything one last time, making sure she was ready to do this. Her parents would be so proud of her for achieving this milestone at such a young age.

And so it was that Yumi found the fascinating lecture on biology being interrupted by the fire alarm. The teacher ushered everyone to fit into a neat and orderly line to file out of the room. Something kicked off in the back of Yumi's mind. They were going to go outside, and stand around there for god alone knew how long. Panicking a little, she rifled through her book bag until she found her hat. Dark red like the gloves she wore and broad rimed, it was a relic of a bygone era. A gift given to her back before the epidemic took her first life. She attracted more than a few strange looks in it and mumbled something to the teacher about psoriasis. A stern scowl ended most of the looks in her direction.

The sun was achingly bright out, and she knew she was adequately protected for the time being, but it still made her feel uneasy. Most of the students were milling around and chatting, despite the teachers best efforts to keep everyone in their respective classes.

She was sitting under a tree, idly wondering if Ulrich was around when some darted by and stole her hat. They rushed past her and into the sparse woods before she could do anything about it. She was on her feet and casting about for the culprit actively panicking now. Without her hat, she would have to go out in the sunlight, which while not an immediate threat, would certainly hurt her.

Her only obvious choice was to chase after the thief. So she did, trying her best to keep the shade she ran into the woods, quickly catching sight of the culprit. He was standing on the other side of a clearing, looking to see if she had followed him. Yumi recognized him immediately. She didn't know his name, but she knew that he was one of the boys Sissi kept with her wherever she went.

Yumi ground her teeth, her fangs digging into her gums. She hadn't expected Sissi to stoop so low in their little feud. The bell was ringing again back at the school, calling everyone back to class. She poked a finger out into the sunlight, gritting her teeth. It hurt, but was at least bearable. It had been a long time since she had been last burned badly though. There were no clouds in the sky to offer her the hope of momentary respite.

Trudging unhappily back to the school, a gardeners shed caught her eye. It looked like the door was open, it wasn't technically an invitation, but the way wasn't being bared for her either. Perhaps something in there would help.

Crossing the threshold wasn't as difficult as she had thought, but it was still mildly unpleasant. In the moment it took for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, something lunged at her. Reacting by instinct, Yumi batted at whatever it was and was rewarded with a stinging sensation in her hand. There was a flash of silver and she was left starring at her the back of her hand in confusion.

Whatever she had hit had burned a cross shape in her glove, and marred her skin.

Wait a minute she thought. The hole was cross shaped.

It was a cross.

A cross.

Yumi's heart was in her throat. Someone had tried to hit her with a cross. Her glove had protected her, mostly at least. She didn't know what to do. This had never happened before. She looked from her hand to the darkness around her.

In the instant she stood uncomprehending Milly readied herself again, and threw herself at the vampire. Whether because it had recovered, or instead merely by instinct- Milly neither knew nor cared- the vampire raised an arm and struck the stake from her hand. It raised its hand at her, the girl's fingers were deformed and had become claws, its once pretty face was distended and it hissed and bared gleaming fangs at her. The girl was gone, and in its place was the monster.

Milly raised the silver cross, making the vampire hiss and recoil from her. She grinned and pulled a second stake from her belt and cross still raised closed in on it, forcing it to stagger out of the shed. Milly had to blink a few times in the light, but luck was in her favor, the sun was behind her. The vampire however made the mistake of looking right up at it and threw its arms up screeching in pain.

Milly pounced just as it fell and tried to scrabble backwards, out of the sunlight. Something caught at her though, just as she was about to bring the stake down. Its whole body was shaking, and at first mill didn't understand why, but then it clicked. It was crying.

Like, desperately sobbing.

She had no idea vampires could do that. She had always known what her parents had taught of them to her, that they were evil creatures that clung to life by killing others.

How could one of them cry?

While she stood there, cross in one hand, stake in the other, Yumi curled into a ball, her hand over her face. The fangs and claws were gone; the fight was gone from her. The monster was gone, and in its place was once more the girl.

"Why?" It, she choked out, still clutching at her face. Milly found she couldn't answer. It was in this moment that she was forced to question everything she believed in. Like never before in her short life she didn't know if the path she had set out on was the right one.

Yumi uncurled herself, digging her hands into the soft ground, and looking up at Milly, who hadn't realized that she had dropped her cross and stake. The girls face was a bright red, and her skin was already peeling, like horrible sunburn.

"Why would you do this to me? I've never hurt anyone!" another sob racked her body. Milly swallowed hard, her breath quickening as shock started to overtake her system.

Yumi's hand gripped her ankle, the strength in her was frightening, but that was more than canceled out by her raged breath and her pleas.

"God, please make it stop." She looked up at Milly. "You've- you won. Just, just please make it… make it stop hurting."

Milly's hands were shaking, really her whole body was. She didn't know what to do; she had started all this to kill a vampire, but the creature pleading with her now couldn't be such a vicious monster. Regret. That was the word for what was going through her now. She regretted what she had done. Not that meant anything to Yumi.

"Yumi. I'm so sorry. I didn't.. I, I didn't understand."

The grip on her ankle tightened even more, actually hurting her now. A tear ran down Milly's cheek and landed on the vampire girl's hand.

Yumi looked up at her, making Milly look at her sun-burned face. "Damn you. Who gave you the right to make these choices? I'm not a monster." Milly looked down at her, unsure what to do. There was nothing she could do to help this girl.

"You're the monster. You're a horrible monster."

Milly bit her cheek, hanging her head in shame.

"I know. I'm a terrible person."