Chapter Text
“Bring something to stop the bleeding!”
“My God! What happened to him?!”
“It was the monsters.”
“I can’t believe it…”
“Hurry up!”
One of the waitresses ran off to find something to help the poor man, who was being carried by his three companions as they entered the tavern before the stunned eyes of the customers.
The stench of alcohol, filth, and poverty mingled with the distinct smell of sweat and blood from the men who barely managed to lay the badly injured man on one of the tables, knocking over cutlery and mugs in the process. One or two patrons were soon overcome by curiosity and approached, or watched from their seats without stopping their drinking.
Among the latter was a hooded figure, hidden from the gaze of others, sitting and paying close attention to what was happening around her despite playing with a silver bullet between her fingers. From time to time, she glanced at the pitiful spectacle unfolding a few meters away.
A spectacle she had witnessed hundreds of times.
All the commotion caught the tavern owner’s attention, and he appeared on the scene alongside two women who helped by pressing clean cloths against the stranger’s chest, arms, and shoulders, all struggling to stop the bleeding.
“How many were there this time?”
“Three, sir…and very fast.”
“I know they’re fast, damn it.” The bald man with the prominent mustache held back his frustration as best he could as he examined the wounds in the flesh. “Will he live?”
“I hope so.”
“He has to live, or I’ll lose money.”
“Please, a beer…”
The other three bounty hunters were relieved to see their companion coming to his senses and surrounded him, intending to calm him down while the most serious wounds were tended to. For his part, the owner clicked his tongue at the stupid babbling of his most recent hired hunter, who was now nothing more than a bitten, cut, and useless failure lying on one of his tables, dirtying it even more than it already was.
“One month, one month and all you bring me is one of you on the brink of death.”
“It’s not-”
“What a disaster.”
“It’s not our fault we were ambushed on the forest path!”
“You’re supposed to be bounty hunters with a good reputation; you’re the ones who should be doing the ambushing! And you haven’t managed to kill one of those things! Not even one!”
The mysterious figure took a small sip from the wooden jug she’d paid for and hadn’t touched until now, lamenting that they didn’t have tea in this place.
The dark color of her cloak covered practically all the weapons on her body, just as the hood protected her long, dark blue hair from prying eyes, leaving only her sky-blue eyes and beautiful features visible.
Just in case anyone dared to look closely.
“We’ll try again as soon as he recovers.”
“Forget it, I won’t let them make me lose any more money; I’ll hire other hunters.”
“Don’t even think about it!”
“We’re already risking our lives with this!”
“And I’m risking the stability of my business, but if those who are supposed to keep this town safe aren’t doing their job right, then I have no other options.”
“Give us one more night; we can kill them, we saw them-”
“Tell that to your friend here, if he survives.”
“We saw them heading toward the abandoned ruins of Fossbarrow. I’m sure that must be their most recent lair.”
“She…was…there.” The wounded hunter gasped for breath as he tried to sit up at the table, but he failed and his back slammed against the wood. “…the scar demon…”
That mention completely captured the hooded woman’s attention.
The bullet remained motionless in her fingers, and she very subtly turned her head so that the side of her face was visible to the group arguing in the center of the tavern. Were it not for her immense experience in the dark world of the hunt, she would have been surprised that everyone had fallen silent.
“The…the sc- scar demon?”
A nod was all the badly wounded man could manage before passing out and alarming his companions. However, that was enough for some patrons to drop coins on the tables and immediately leave the place. Likewise, the tavern owner ran a hand over his face, thinking about what he had just heard.
“It’s true, she didn’t bite anyone, but we saw the mark on her face.”
“She didn’t seem interested in killing us, unlike the others.”
“Then we’re really screwed.”
“I didn’t get a good look at her. Are you sure it was her?”
“We wouldn’t lie in a situation like this!”
“Shit! Damn it all!”
“What are we going to do?”
Whatever those fake hunters were discussing now was of no importance to the hooded woman. She drank half the contents of her mug, then paid and smoothed her clothes beneath her cloak, and left the tavern with the same grace and subtlety with which she had entered some twenty minutes earlier.
She was careful not to stain her boots with the blood spilled by the poor man, who was perhaps luckier than he realized.
X X X
The commotion of the previous night, typical of a fishing village in dire straits, had given way to the deceptive calm of the forest on that cloudy afternoon, amidst the seemingly endless trees.
Although the entire surroundings were enveloped in the dull gray of the sky, flashes of light could still be seen between the clouds, which eventually fell onto the lush vegetation where the pair of boots trampled dry leaves. The hooded woman walked with meticulous care, occasionally crouching to examine the ground or using a dagger to inspect the bark of a tree that caught her attention.
There is always the possibility of finding scratches.
She stopped in front of a small river after about an hour of searching, sat down on the rocky bank, and removed her hood, allowing her long, straight hair to breathe a little.
Caitlyn has never been a hunter who enjoys being covered from head to toe while working, much less if she must walk long distances over uneven terrain with thousands of bushes and nooks and crannies in tree trunks. She does have her own hat at home, courtesy of the mayor of a wealthy town she freed from the torment of two chimeras and a basilisk, but on this occasion, she didn’t think it appropriate to bring it.
She recalled that hunt with nostalgia as she filled her canteen with water and drank until her thirst was quenched; Caitlyn had waited for hours on the roof of a house near the town center to take down the creatures of the night as soon as they appeared. An arrow to the head for each one and a bullet to the chest to finish them off.
She remained silent, reflecting on the new job she had in her hands and, above all, the information she obtained that night at the tavern.
Apparently, her target had attacked one of the many monster hunters and bounty hunters who had surely been hired to eliminate her and the other monsters, and while the ramblings of a foolish boy on the verge of fainting from blood loss aren’t to be trusted, it’s no coincidence that he mentioned The Scar Demon now that she’d managed to reach the last village where the creature was seen.
Caitlyn will be lucky if she manages to eliminate the other vampires terrorizing that area as well. That isn’t part of the contract she accepted, but her sense of justice wouldn’t allow her to leave without making sure things were in order.
She took advantage of that window of time before nightfall to clean every single arrow she uses for her crossbow, which she always carries on her back beneath her cloak. She used a cloth to wipe the dirt from the soles of her black boots, which complemented the rest of her outfit perfectly: tight leather pants adorned with numerous daggers and sharp weapons, and a blue corset paired with a white button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
At her hips, a gap in the corset revealed a bit of skin, and her black boots reached up to her knees.
She decided to resume her walk toward the ruins of Fossbarrow, without the hood this time, though keeping her cloak on and thinking about the strategy she would use for this hunt.
Caitlyn remained alert to any sound or movement around her.
X X X
She reached her destination just as the sun was setting on the horizon. From that vantage point, she could make out the sea and the mountains, which offered a much better view of what lay behind her.
The remains of what had been a prosperous kingdom over a century ago now lay abandoned before her eyes. Hundreds of tons collapsed, corroded, and even destroyed structures at every turn. Many roots stood out against the monotonous colors of the ancient kingdom, and Caitlyn tried not to step on the small flowers peeking out of the ground among the broken stone.
If she stopped for any longer, she was sure her mind would make her believe she could hear the wails of those who had perished in that place.
However, her feet brought her to a sudden halt, but not because she heard ghosts.
“Interesting,” Caitlyn whispered to herself as she studied the claw marks on one of the cracked pillars leading to Fossbarrow Castle. “They aren’t from a very large vampire, nor does it seem to be a particularly strong one, given the depth of the scratches.”
Four deep, elongated marks.
She studied the evidence on other pillars that revealed the presence of more monsters. Without a doubt, this was their lair.
“Although this one is…different.”
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes when her fingers touched the huge, concave crack in one of the walls; it didn’t look like anything she’d seen before; it looked more as if someone incredibly strong had punched the wall, not caring about the terrible damage it left behind.
“Maybe a mountain troll, or a werewolf…No, there are no footprints or witnesses to anything like that.”
She can’t be sure that her target was responsible. The only details she must go on are that it’s a seemingly female creature of the night, very aggressive, with hair as dark as the night itself.
A vampire of above-average strength; the most logical hypothesis given the limited information she has and the clues she found.
According to the legends of those who have seen her, they say the creature dyes her hair with the blood of other monsters or that of her human victims, which is why accounts vary between black and red. It wouldn’t be the first time a legend turned out to be more real than the story suggests, Caitlyn thought as her gaze dropped to the dusty floor of the castle entrance and slowly followed the trail of subtle, dried crimson droplets on the cracked surface.
Her experience and keen instincts allowed her to enter the abandoned place without needing to look over her head for an ambush.
She had neutralized enough monsters and fools throughout her life not to doubt her own abilities.
Nevertheless, she kept a firm grip on her crossbow, held slightly downward, as she ventured deeper into the shadows. She heard the cawing of crows on the outskirts of the castle, but she continued her way, not before casting a glance through a large hole in the wall at sunset, with the birds flying across the sky before nightfall.
She was already beginning to miss the sun’s rays.
The instinct for survival inherent in any way of thinking human being tried to convince her to get out of there as soon as possible, to turn back the way she came without looking back, to leave that life full of dangers behind and devote herself to a more conventional job. The many offers to become a prosecutor or a security guard for wealthy towns and cities echoed in her mind with almost the same intensity as her boots splashing through a long puddle of water dripping from the ceiling and pooling on the floor.
At this point, it was hard to tell if there were any remains of something important or not.
Caitlyn knelt, one knee on the ground, careful not to get dirty from the filthy water, and found a detail that would alarm anyone else.
A finger.
A severed human finger showing clear signs of decay.
“The little finger of a young woman; it must be several days old.” “She picked up the tiny human remains with a handkerchief and examined them closely with serious, narrowed eyes. “The water must have washed away any trace of a smell.”
She set the evidence aside as she stood up and resumed her search through the castle’s now-dark corridors. The moonlight filtering through the cracks was her only ally in that hunt.
Fortunately, the destruction of the place had left a huge hole through which wind and light poured in, signaling her arrival in what was presumably the royal hall. An overly elongated room with a carpet that seemed endless until, in the distance, she spotted a throne corroded by time.
The glass was shattered and unrecognizable; there were also signs of vandalism and a distinct aura of mystery surrounding this fallen kingdom, but what truly caught Caitlyn’s attention were the scratch marks on the throne, accompanied by bloody fingerprints.
As soon as she approached and ran her fingers over it, she noticed the blood was fresh.
Maybe, very fresh.
Her instincts kicked in on their own as she crouched and rolled across the floor the instant an inhumanly fast figure lunged toward her from some corner of the ceiling. Thanks to her body’s reflexes, she was able to reposition herself immediately, one knee on the carpet, aiming her crossbow at the now-revealed figure, who stood with its back to her and the throne.
About eight meters separated them enough for the hunter’s blue eyes to make out the black, tattered cloak covering the figure’s back, head, and part of its legs, with a pair of heavy boots being the only recognizable feature for the moment.
Or so anyone else would think, since Caitlyn recognized the creature’s scent as exactly what she had already deduced. A vampire, and judging by its anatomy and other specific details, a very powerful female vampire.
“I’ll admit you have good reflexes. I like it when problems are like this.”
She frowned and stood up, aiming at her gun. That voice was laced with so much mockery that it made her bite the inside of her cheek to keep from acting rashly. The creature still had its back to her and seemed to be staring at the hole in the night sky.
As if the vastness of the starry sky and the moon rising over the ruined kingdom were deeply captivating to the monster.
“Don’t you?”
“Don’t I what?”
“Don’t you like it when a prey presents a challenge?” The vampire removed her hood with her hands covered in white bandages as she turned her neck slightly to look at her opponent and smile with a clear threat. “I know a good hunter when I see one.”
It wasn’t just the sarcastic, defiant smile that put her on alert. It wasn’t just the incredible, unconventional beauty of a face with sharp, rugged features, including piercings in the nose and ear, as well as cuts on the eyebrow and upper lip.
It was also the revelation of long, dark hair as black as oil, styled in a very peculiar way, shaved on one side and a long strand on the other.
Because of the contrast between the darkness and the moonlight, Caitlyn could have sworn that the irises shifted between a natural blue and an exaggeratedly bright hue.
Just like a wolf about to attack.
“I don’t know where you’re from or how long you’ve been around here, but it’s clear you have a lot of experience with this. How long have you been doing this? Ten? Eleven, maybe?” The creature didn’t have time to continue speaking as an arrow was heading straight for its eye, had it not moved out of the way at the precise moment. “I’d say twelve.”
Caitlyn wasn’t intimidated by the pair of strange blue orbs that turned black just before she fired her crossbow again.
This time her target leaped, or perhaps flew very quickly into the darkness of the ceiling, evading her attacks. She used that chance to find a better position, moving among the corroded pillars of the royal hall and relying more on her sense of hearing than her sight.
She almost let herself be carried away by memories of hundreds of similar scenarios.
“Not bad. You’re very fast, and hot. I like you.”
Caitlyn clicked her tongue, looking up as she tried to pinpoint the source of the mocking voice, now reduced to an echo.
“I bet your blood will taste just as good.”
“You’d better shut your mouth.”
“I will, believe me; I’ll shut it in your flesh.”
Something inside her warned her that those words were meant in a more playful tone than she would have liked, and it was impossible to verify that since the creature was hiding very well in the shadows. Behavior worthy of a monster of the night.
“You have a very unusual appearance for a hunter. Maybe I’ve gone mad like my sister, but even the way you walk shows you’re someone of means.”
She fired an arrow just inches from hitting her target.
“So, a sister.” Caitlyn whispered to herself, glancing back and forth in the darkness of the ceiling. “I suppose she’s part of your group.”
“You’re even more observant than I thought.”
She heard the voice behind her and this time threw a dagger, showing no surprise when the vampire stopped it with one hand just a few millimeters from her unsuspecting face.
“And how many more of you are there around here?”
“Fewer than I’d like; the hunters never stop trying to eliminate us as if it were a game. A competition.”
“There aren’t many options if you drain the blood of the inhabitants of a town that can’t defend itself.”
“And let my sister starve to death? Did you fall out of a golden cradle at birth or what?”
Caitlyn frowned as she watched the dagger bend effortlessly under the vampire’s fingers and fall to the ground. Trying to extract information through conversation is something she’s perfected over time, though it doesn’t always work out the way she’d like.
It depends on the context and the target, and this particular target just won’t stop devouring her with the eyes.
She feels her heart racing at the danger of becoming yet another victim of those fangs.
“Anyway, I’ll admit it’s fun talking to you; you’re not like any other hunter I’ve killed. Your accent makes it interesting.” She let her cloak fall, fully revealing her strong arms, her chest covered with the same bandages as her forearms, her well-defined torso, and of course, the distinctive scar on her cheek that resembles Roman numerals. “My name is Vi. You can remember that while I drain you dry.”
“Vi…”
The whisper escaped the hunter’s lips before she realized it, though she didn’t let her guard down in the face of the monster’s unexpected revelation. The creature seemed to be preparing for a fight, cracking its knuckles and acting arrogantly.
“And what is your name?”
The arrows flew with a skill that surprised the creature, forcing it to dart from one end of the space to the other, yet still taking a couple to the side of its body. It ripped them out without a second thought and narrowed its blue eyes.
Caitlyn didn’t wait for the vampire to have time to recover; she used every single one of her arrows to inflict as much damage as possible, but also to gauge her prey’s physical endurance.
To push her to the limit.
She studied Vi’s patterns and quickly realized that she doesn’t care much about defense or avoiding attacks, only about attacking, and that might have worked if not for the grueling training she underwent to keep up with the monsters that plague the world.
Despite her delicate appearance, she knows how to move in a hostile, ravaged environment like that.
“Shit!” Vi bared her clenched teeth after pulling out an arrow that had struck her leg; she felt her flesh burning because the metal tip was coated with a special poison.
The hunter seized the opportunity when she saw her target standing still with multiple bleeding wounds, and fired her last arrow straight at her chest. However, Vi let out a furious scream as she slammed her fist into the ground, not only dodging a dangerous shot but also causing a massive crack on the floor that sent a tremor throughout the castle.
That crack spread between Caitlyn’s feet, and though she didn’t stumble, it was enough to unsettle her slightly, at which moment the creature gained momentum and leaped like lightning toward her.
The human’s back slammed against the wall with the same force as that bandaged hand gripped her neck, feeling the pressure as her body was immobilized. Her face betrayed pain she couldn’t help, her eyebrows arched, eyes closed, and gasping for air. Her own fingers wrapped around her attacker’s wrist in an attempt to free herself, but it was useless.
Vi is an absurdly strong vampire.
She let out one last pitiful sound before shooting a murderous glare at the woman who was now smiling smugly, yet also showing tension and pent-up rage at the corners of her lips, and especially in her single visible eye, since the other was covered by a long strand of hair.
“You’re a real pain in the ass.” Vi relished the groan she elicited when she tightened her fingers around Caitlyn's throat, maintaining eye contact. “You’re lucky you ran into me and not my sister. She hates hunters more than anything; she’d eat you alive for hours just to ensure your suffering.”
Despite the slight difference in height, Vi’s arm managed to lift Caitlyn a few inches off the ground, making her kick as she struggled to breathe and clung to her wrist.
“Even so, don’t think I’ll go easy on you. You ruined my bandages, and now I have to get more.” She leaned in to press her lips against the ear of the girl who was still trying to kill her with just a look. “I’m going to enjoy this. Every…second of it.”
She sank her fangs very shallowly into the taut cheek, barely leaving a couple of holes in the beautiful skin, and licked the drops of blood, ignoring her victim’s violent thrashing against the wall. “Delicious and sweet, like a cupcake.”
Caitlyn raised a leg to the height of the vampire’s muscular stomach, but not to kick, rather to reach for the dagger tucked in her boot and plunge it into the forearm that was strangling her.
Vi’s first reaction was to growl and loosen her grip, giving Caitlyn a chance to catch her breath and pull away from the monster just before she caught her again.
Her blue eyes turned black as she yanked the dagger from her arm and watched the other woman retrieve the crossbow she’d lost moments ago, finding it absurd now that all the arrows had been spent.
Vi regretted having underestimated her opponent the moment the hunter’s hands pressed a button, and the crossbow shed its characteristic elongated ends to become something perhaps even more dangerous.
“You’re so clever.” She had to jump and dig her fingers into the wall just to avoid being hit by the shot from the newly revealed short-barreled shotgun.
The bullet struck the pillar, sending dust and debris flying.
She didn’t stay there for more than a second, as the next shot didn’t wait, and the dull thud once again shattered the stillness of the night.
Caitlyn wiped the saliva and blood from her cheek before pulling two more bullets from her pants pocket and reloading the modified shotgun. Normally, she doesn’t need to resort to such extremes; the crossbow and the firearm work independently, and one is less practical than the other due to the noise it makes and the ammunition it consumes. But here and now, she had no choice but to disassemble the crossbow and rely on her other skill: her marksmanship.
The poison on the daggers and arrows won’t kill the vampire; it will slow her regeneration and weaken her slightly, but not enough to get a clean shot. However, the damage she had previously inflicted paid off because of the drops of blood falling randomly from the ceiling, revealing her prey’s latest position.
And also, that it is weakening.
Caitlyn assured herself that tonight she would finish off The Scar Demon.
Or, rather, finish off Vi.
A part of her mind, detached from the external conflict, wondered if she was the first person to hear the monster’s true name. Surely not, surely those who had heard it died screaming in its fangs.
She thought about how curious it would be to reveal that information to the world, or to keep it to herself. The true name of the vampire who had forged a reputation among the underworld hunters.
A name as unusual as it is fascinating.
She pulled the trigger again, and this time she knew she’d hit her mark, not only because of the scream of pain and the torrent of blood that fell from the darkness of the ceiling, but also because her instincts told her so.
Black and blue flashes darted back and forth, mostly trying to catch her off guard the same way as before, but Caitlyn quickly adapted to Vi’s attacks. Whenever the vampire lunged like lightning, she ducked backward or dodged it with a full spin on the ground.
The bullets were running out, and with them, the intensity and speed with which the creature attacked.
Eventually, what she already knew would happen did.
She heard exhausted breathing from somewhere in the royal hall, and with the shotgun still aimed, she approached cautiously; one boot in front of the other, without lowering her guard or her narrow eyes.
What she found was the black-haired woman with her arm resting on one of the destroyed pillars, her forehead pressed against it, panting, sweaty, and with her clothes quite torn, though not as badly as her body, which was covered in visible wounds.
The bandages on her forearms and torso were soaked through with dark fluid, and there was clear evidence of a shotgun pellet on the right side of her abdomen, not to mention the cuts from daggers and arrows.
It wasn’t until Caitlyn was about six paces away that Vi looked up, wearily, making eye contact with the other pair of blue eyes.
“You’re an all-right shot…”
“I’m an excellent shot.”
“I noticed…”
Part of the hunter felt pity for her prey, and she didn’t even know exactly why. Her years in this line of work had shown her that monsters don’t always have selfish or unpredictable motives for killing; sometimes they do it for survival, or for the survival of others like them.
She bit the inside of her cheek as she watched the girl in front of her cough up blood and clutch her wounded stomach. The image of the bandages stained red wasn’t the best final memory.
“I’m sorry about this.”
“Tsk…”
“I mean it.”
“Liar…”
“I’m sorry about your sister; I don’t know who she is or what she’s like, but it’s never pleasant to tear a family apart through death.”
Vi seemed to nod, understanding what the human meant, though her gaze remained fixed on the pair of tiny holes in the hunter’s cheek.
Waiting.
“When I find her, I’ll tell her how much you loved her.”
Caitlyn cocked the gun and aimed with a resigned look.
“Actually, I doubt you’ll get the chance.”
The vampire’s voice felt like an echo that made her head spin, just as her finger trembled on the trigger. A strange sensation coursed through her entire body, and the tremor spread to her knees and arms, making it difficult for her to breathe normally.
She also felt her cheeks growing warm, especially the one that had been bitten earlier.
Her heart rate quickened.
Caitlyn tried not to panic, but it was impossible given the inexplicable turn of events. Hot reactions surged through her system, and she felt a rush of excitement that weakened her hands and made her drop the gun, which fell with a painful clatter as she struggled to stay on her feet.
“What are you…”
She couldn’t even focus her attention on Vi. An intense heat overwhelmed her body, causing her to gasp with her mouth open, her eyes downcast, and her head slightly bowed. Her legs still felt extremely weak, but what frightened the hunter most was the tingling sensation she felt in her lower belly.
For some reason, the burning sensation at the top of her thighs intensified.
“What’s…what is happening…”
“I admit I was a little worried; the toxin doesn’t usually take this long to take effect.”
Caitlyn let out another sound, her breath ragged, unable to make out what the creature was saying as it drew closer. Her instincts told her to run, but her feet wouldn’t move.
All she could think about were the overwhelming sensations coursing through her veins and invading the most sensitive parts of her body.
It was the moment the vampire was right in front of her that her skin prickled even more, even though she couldn’t focus enough to see her face.
“My bite has a special poison; my sister has it too, though hers has other effects. I suppose that’s why we’re so different.” She took the hunter’s hand, the fingers trembling in her bandaged palm, and smiled with excitement as she felt the rapid pulse in the veins of her wrist. “If your blood comes into contact with my fangs or my saliva, the venom makes you feel numb and aroused; basically, as if you were being seduced.”
Caitlyn moaned in shame as Vi’s fingers intertwined with hers and squeezed slightly, while her own fingers couldn’t even close. They trembled at the grip of that strong hand.
The warmth of palm against palm was comforting in a way, and that terrified her even more.
She had to get out of there as soon as possible.
“Ahh…Ahh…”
Unfortunately, the vampire already had Caitlyn in her hands, literally.
The weakness in her knees, combined with the pleasure throbbing inside her, prevented her from using her deductive skills and experience in life-or-death situations. She had never fallen for the seduction of a creature of the night before, and she’d be lying if she denied that Vi hadn’t seemed very attractive to her from the start, but it couldn’t be, not with a vampire, much less like this.
She did her best to look annoyed, to no avail. Vi loomed over her because of her lowered head and invaded her personal space by getting very close.
“N-No…wait-”
“I’ll tell you something you surely already suspect; I love the blood of girls like you.” Vi caressed Caitlyn's jaw with her free hand, smiling with immense hunger as she focused on sensing the shivers on her skin and the beating of her heart. “I recently devoured some stupid hunters I ran into yesterday. It wasn’t the best meal, but that gives me an excuse to make you my dessert, cupcake.
The combination of sensations pushed Caitlyn over the edge of no return. The husky, sensual voice in her ear, the bandaged hand dominating her, the other hand gently holding her chin, the latent pleasure between her legs, the vampire’s seductive scent.
There was no escape.
It was a matter of time before she closed her eyes with her cheeks flushed, her mouth slightly parted, and an expression of helpless resignation on her face.
X X X
The next thing Caitlyn knew, she had become the prey.
Vi positioned herself behind the hunter after tearing away sections of her black outfit, mainly the back of the corset, a section of the long-sleeved shirt, and the area around her hips that revealed a bit of skin. Those fingers were responsible for exposing her to the darkness and cold of the night in which she was defeated.
However, Caitlyn’s true torment was just beginning.
She felt a chill run down her neck from the soft touch of a finger behind her shoulder, right in the gaps of torn fabric, moving from top to bottom, extremely slowly. The contrast between her well-cared-for skin and the vampire’s fingertip was striking. Waves of pleasure multiplied with a single touch, making her shudder and let out pitiful sounds with her mouth closed, even though her lips were trembling as much as the rest of her body.
As if that weren’t enough, Vi proceeded to repeat the pattern of caresses all over her back, reaching the center of it and then moving upward, ensuring that her nails also unleashed sensations across the human’s flesh.
In a cruel twist of fate, Caitlyn’s knees grew even weaker, allowing the vampire to lean in and capture her ear with her lips, drawing a sharp moan from the woman with her eyes tightly shut.
The stimulation didn’t end there; those teeth tugged at the delicate skin of her ear several times, with no intention of hurting her, just of arousing her, and it worked. It worked all too well. This was evident in the fire that burned hotter in her lower belly, reinforced by her erect nipples beneath the corset and the wetness between her legs, still protected by her intact pants.
“You’re prettier when you’re vulnerable.”
A line like that, in any other context, would make her roll her eyes or frown in disgust. This wasn’t just any context. The hoarse voice in her ear was like a soothing melody she couldn’t resist, feeling as though she couldn’t breathe with the licks she was now receiving on her ear and neck.
“Mmmh!”
“It’s so easy.” Vi grabbed her by the throat with one hand, pressing her mouth against the hunter’s warm cheek. “It’s so easy to seduce you, cupcake.”
The toxin in her blood was urging Caitlyn to nod her head, to agree with the owner of that poison, but that was the only thing she could resist.
The sea of excitement she was subjected to pushing her legs to their limit, and she fell to the ground with the vampire on top of her as she gazed at her half-exposed back and her long, dark, tousled hair.
Her survival instincts hadn’t been completely numbed, and so she tried to get up, pressing her hands against the dusty floor of that abandoned castle. No sooner had she thought it than the strong, bandaged hands rested on hers, sending a clear message.
“I don’t know if I’ll consume you down to the last drop, or if I’ll turn you into one of us.” Vi smiled, shaking her head to brush the long strand of hair from the side of her face. “I bet someone like you would be fascinated by the idea of becoming one of the monsters you’ve been hunting for years. Irony, it's so funny.”
“I’ll never be like you…”
“Are you sure? After tonight, you might stop being human, and not even your pride could save you from that.”
Vi’s words cut deep into Caitlyn’s conscious mind, and she immediately turned her head slightly to face the woman perched on her back. She couldn’t help but let fear show in her furious gaze, which only widened the vampire’s smile.
“I suppose I’ll decide after I’ve had some fun with you.”
“Let me go right now!”
The human’s sharp eyes turned to pure fear as her attacker’s hand slid down her back to the waistband of her tight pants, ignoring the belt, the bullets, and whatever else was still stored there.
“…no…stop…”
Her pleas fell on deaf ears as that cruelly experienced hand began to slowly pull down her pants along with her underwear, exposing her desirable behind. She did what she could to stop it, writhing, trying to get up, but nothing worked.
She was at the absolute and complete mercy of The Scar Demon.
Caitlyn didn’t even feel sober enough to perceive how pathetic she looked. The most humiliating moment of her life before her death.
No, the effect of the seduction was too powerful and clouded her judgment until she was driven wild by the slightest touch or stimulus. And it wasn’t as if her taste for women had helped either; quite the opposite, the touch of another woman on her body unleashed pleasures that were very welcome to her, especially now that those fingers were wandering over the soft flesh of her buttocks.
Caitlyn couldn't help but get even more aroused.
Vi had the decency not to leave her in an internal conflict, as she used her free hand to pin her wrists in front of her head, pressing them against the floor so the hunter couldn’t intervene.
A moan far more intense than the previous ones escaped from the human’s parted lips the moment she felt two fingers probe her entrance, playing with the moisture that slid down the claws without a shred of shame, a stark contrast to her, who could barely open her eyes, clouded by pleasure, and could just manage to press her forehead against the floor, gasping and pulling at her arms in an involuntary reaction.
One of those fingers caressed around the sensitive spot as a prelude to what was to come, sending electric shocks down the spine of the defenseless woman, who was suffering spasms in her tummy and hips.
Suddenly, the friction moved down to her little bundle of nerves to gather moisture and spread it over the sensitive pleasure button.
“Don’t do it…don’t touch there…”
“Oh, I see you’re very sensitive here.”
“That’s not true- Ahhh…” She hid her blush behind her outstretched arms and her hair as Vi paid special attention to her clit with movements that danced between slow and fast. “God…”
Caitlyn had no control over her reactions. Her hips began to sway to the rhythm of the stimulation, which just increased the heat in her cheeks and the pounding of her heart.
“It feels… it feels-”
She couldn’t even finish the sentence. She bit her lip, her eyes closed in unwanted delight as her middle finger entered her.
Caitlyn bit her lip; her eyes closed in unwanted delight as the middle finger penetrated her.
“Stop…you monster…”
“We’re all monsters, sweetheart.”
Caitlyn’s hands clenched into trembling fists as another finger was enveloped by her inner walls, feeling an unbearable heat in her crotch and an even greater burning sensation on her clit, which was begging for attention.
Pressing her thighs together didn’t make the fingering any less overwhelming, so as the minutes passed, she surrendered, bending her right knee slightly, and with that, the hand between her buttocks had better access to tease her with a wonderful touch. The perfect balance between roughness and gentleness.
But what was not at all gentle was the bite she received on her shoulder while her wrists were held, and she was touched from behind.
“Ahhh!”
Vi half-opened her eyes, her pupils wide, keeping her mouth and fangs sunk into the soft flesh that was turning red, with thin threads of blood dripping everywhere. She savored the liquid on her tongue without breaking her focus on the hunter’s open mouth and the tremors in her torso, head, neck and arms.
“The best dessert I’ve ever had in my life.” She said sincerely, then licked the marks of her teeth on Caitlyn's skin and moved up the back of her neck to the flushed ear, where the strands of dark blue hair tickled her nose. “I don’t understand how we didn’t meet sooner; you're wonderful.”
Caitlyn’s soft, flat belly contracted in spasms like those in her hips and thighs; she clung to the idea that her reactions were caused by the poison, yet at the same time, she doubted it. The stimulation of the fingers inside her was dragging her too quickly into the abyss of pleasure, enveloping her in constant dizziness despite being face-down on the floor with a strong, feminine body covering her.
Perhaps because deep down she wanted this, but her pride prevented her from admitting it.
Another futile attempt to free herself resulted in a tighter grip on her crossed wrists and a flurry of bites on her shoulder blades.
Caitlyn no longer held back her gasps and sobs; tears of overstimulation clouded her vision from both pain and bliss, and she felt more dizziness due to the toxin spreading through her veins. She sought greater friction from the penetration deep inside her, rocking in time with Vi’s two fingers that curved to caress her inner walls and make her scream. She breathed the entire time through her open mouth, beads of sweat trickling down her temple, almost like the crimson rivers flowing down the sides of her torso and staining what little remained intact with her corset.
And as if all that weren’t enough, with every bite Vi sucked the blood, causing not only more pleasure in Caitlyn’s body, but also weakening her, robbing her of the strength to move, the strength to fight.
Too weak to escape.
Caitlyn succumbed to the relentless seduction of the one who was supposed to be her prey.
“Don’t stop…”
There was no way she could resist any longer, and even if there had been, the monster wouldn’t let her.
“Please don’t stop.”
The pumping of the bandaged hand was overwhelmingly fast and intense, dragging her toward a devastating climax fueled by the toxin. Vi touched the sensitive spots inside the hunter’s body while biting her other shoulder, sinking her fangs in and letting out a growl of satisfaction.
All while she gave provocative strokes to the swollen bundle of nerves.
“Vi!”
Caitlyn came hard, with a breathless gasp accompanied by a sudden jolt through her entire body, arching her back for a second and keeping her butt raised as the pair of digits unleashed wave after wave of bliss in her groin. Her toes curled inside her boots and her thighs trembled for the entire duration of the orgasm, struggling to draw oxygen into her lungs and not succumb to fainting.
Before regaining what little consciousness she had left, she was flipped onto her back on the floor, still feeling the ghost of that hand between her legs.
She lay with her eyes closed and her eyebrows arched for quite some time; her chest rose and fell, and her limp arms lay stretched out on either side of her waist.
Warm sweat ran down her back, neck, and forehead. Loose strands of hair stuck to her face, and the clammy dampness at the crown of her head, barely covered by her pants, was alarming, yet at the same time, soothing.
She had never experienced such pleasure in her entire life, and she didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Little by little, Caitlyn opened her eyes, having to blink repeatedly to focus her vision despite the lack of light and the tears still in her eyes. What she made out was the one responsible for her torment, sitting on her lap as she wiped the mouth with her thumb before licking it as well.
Blood, her own blood, surrounded the vampire’s lips until it trickled down the corners of her mouth.
But that wasn’t the only thing she managed to recognize in that pitiful state.
“You’ve had your fun with her, fat hands. Now kill her, and make it painful.”
“Silence.”
“Don’t butt in, ogre. Oh oh, we could hang her at the castle entrance! Just like it says in that book they have in churches, with a wooden cross and all that.”
A shrill voice and a deeper one, respectively, came from the blurred figures atop the destroyed pillars of that place. The few colors Caitlyn could make out were the light blue of one of their long hair and the shades of black and brown on the other; both figures were women covered in cloaks like Vi’s, though of very different builds.
“If you’re not going to kill her, then let me play for a while; I promise I’ll be a bad girl.”
“No, Jinx.”
“And why not?!”
“We’ve already talked about this: neither Sevika nor I meddle in what you hunt, and you don’t-”
“And I don’t meddle in your business, blah blah blah; anyway, I don’t care. I just want to see her die after all the harm she did to Vi.”
“Vi is fine.”
“Look at the state she’s in after that bitch attacked her like she was in heat!”
“Don’t yell so much; I can hear you just fine.”
“Ogre.”
The loud argument between the brunette and the pair who were supposed to be her group allowed the hunter to think with a modicum of clarity as she caught her breath, and her body slowly came down from the peak of pleasure. She turned her head to the side because her instincts warned her of the presence of her shotgun near her arm, which had been forgotten and thrown to the ground.
That was her chance.
She swallowed, reaching out with a trembling hand in a final effort to hunt down her target, no matter how aroused she felt and no matter how the poison tried to seduce her mind into doing nothing, into surrendering completely.
Into giving in to the tingling in her groin.
She won’t do it. She will always fight.
She must fight.
Before her fingers could touch the gun, a bandaged hand reached for hers, pressing their palms together and intertwining their fingers in a warm embrace that made her sigh.
Caitlyn immediately locked eyes with the vampire, who leaned over her, pinning her other arm to the ground. Vi didn’t seem annoyed, mocking, or aggressive, nothing of the sort. Her face was expressionless, in stark contrast to the exhausted and vulnerable gaze of the hunter, who once again felt extremely nervous and agitated as she breathed in the vampire’s intoxicating scent.
She was almost silently begging her, without really knowing what she was begging for.
Their eyes lost themselves in one another’s. A sea of emotions impossible to put into words and incomprehensible at that moment.
They had connected without realizing it.
There was one last attempt to reach out with her restrained hand to grab the weapon, but Vi’s grip was unyielding, and ignoring the other two vampire women’s argument about them, she directed her mouth toward Caitlyn’s vulnerable neck.
And she bit her gently.
“Agh! I can’t believe it; she already likes you.”
The human moaned with her mouth and eyes half-open; she clenched her fingers around Vi’s hand and experienced a new pleasure mixed with pain that invaded her body as those lips sucked her blood with all the calm in the world.
It was her turn to have the black strands tickle her face, especially her nose.
“Tell me you’ll leave her as dry as an old raisin, or tell me you’ll turn her into a vampire, so she’ll suffer for eternity. Or tell me you’re going to shoot an arrow between her legs!”
“Jinx, shut up.”
“Or between my boobs! I don’t care!”
“I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Fuck, I should’ve been the older one!”
A bubble seemed to trap Vi and Caitlyn at that moment, giving the sensation that they couldn’t hear or perceive anything other than the unexpected closeness between them. Her back arched and her head snapped back in an involuntary reaction.
Fear was still very much present in the hunter, though not as much as the fire burning in her belly, which grew stronger with every second the creature bit her neck, and even when the teeth pulled away from the sensitive flesh, the blood-stained lips planted a kiss on the wound that made the human blush even more.
The monster gave her a contemplative look, their noses almost touching.
“You didn’t tell me your name, cupcake.”
Her half-covered thighs rubbed together to soothe the delicious burning in her center, unable to look away from the blue orbs that were far more intimate than she had expected. Her breaths brushed against the vampire’s face as the grip of her hands grew lighter.
And what was most disconcerting for the huntress were the strong beats of her own heart and the ease with which her gaze drifted down to Vi’s lips, no longer able to decipher whether it was because of seduction, the poison, the climax, or if it was something else.
Something deeper and more complex.
“Caitlyn...”
X X X
The sun’s rays peeked over the horizon, casting warm hues over the dull gray of that fallen, desolate realm devoid of all life save for the insects, mice, and birds of the area. Not to mention the beautiful woman who was barely coming to her senses when the light hit her face, forcing her to shield her eyes with one hand and immediately regretting having woken up.
She was sitting with her back against one of the pillars, her legs bent to one side so that the dark cloak would cover her entire body, a necessity given the state her clothes were in. The corset was half-destroyed, as were the shirt and leather pants, which had slipped down to mid-thigh.
The memories of what had happened last night hit her head with as much force as the pain in the rest of her body. She sighed with one hand pressed to her forehead, enduring the discomfort. Her other hand went to her neck, and she pressed her lips together in a tight line at the marks left as evidence.
She knows she has many more bite marks elsewhere, but the most important one to her right now is the one on her throat.
However, amid all the negative aspects of her failed hunt, there is one that is undeniably positive, and surprising.
She is not a vampire.
Caitlyn gazed at the sunbeams streaming through the cracks in the castle wall, grateful to still have the privilege of feeling their warmth.
The muscle aches and fatigue were also a clear sign that she was still human, not to mention that she didn’t feel any different beyond the excitement caused by the toxin in her blood.
She is still human; she is still herself.
There were no signs that the vampires were still in the area, as her survival instincts confirmed. She sighed in relief, resting a little longer in that position and wrapping herself in her cloak to protect her half-naked body, while the birdsong and the tranquility of the morning lulled her into a fleeting calm.
One curious thing she discovered was that most of the daggers and her crossbow/shotgun had been abandoned a few meters away from her, as if someone had intended to leave them there.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to think too much, not after everything she’d been through, and especially with a certain muscular vampire swirling around in her head.
A blush spread across her cheeks as she recalled what she’d experienced with that creature of the night, what it had made her feel, the unknown limits to which she’d been mercilessly dragged.
Or perhaps there had been mercy, since it’s not at all normal for a vampire to let an unconscious victim go after consuming a little blood, much less when they have a group to care for and feed.
And the bites she felt on her buttocks wouldn’t be enough to satisfy that hunger.
Caitlyn decided she’d have time to figure those things out later, surely when she resumed her hunt for The Scar Demon and they could settle their scores.
A powerful sense of facing a relentless enemy welled up inside her.
She waited until she felt energetic again to stand up and adjust her pants, the only intact piece of clothing she had besides her boots. However, as she checked her corset and considered how difficult it would be to keep wearing it on her return to the village, she made a discovery that left her speechless.
The cloak they had left to cover her body during the night wasn’t hers; it was Vi’s.
She could tell by the sorry state of the fabric, torn in places and carrying the unmistakable scent of the monster Caitlyn had grown accustomed to in just one night.
Despite the embarrassment flooding her face, she covered her breasts with her hands before the cloak could shield her skin, failing to stop herself from savoring the vampire’s scent, a scent she now couldn’t get out of her head until they met again.
Perhaps in a different context, or perhaps not.
