Nightfall - Chapter 1. The slender brunette checked her watch as she waited in the shadows. Five more minutes and her team would storm the hideout. She wondered how many injuries she would sustain this time. With a small smirk, she guessed, only a slight cut here or there.
She didn’t look fierce, neither did she look remotely dangerous. She wore black cargo pants over black sneakers and a grey sports jacket over a white tank top. Right under her jacket, a belt was worn loosely around her tank top and it housed her Desert Eagle, hidden.
Silently, she took out her pistol and filled the magazine with silver bullets coated in a new formula that Shu Xian, one of the researchers had developed. It was guaranteed to destroy the enemy upon impact and shatter them without question.
Twenty seconds.
“Zhuang Ying, you’re going in first. Take down whoever you can. We’re coming in right after you.”
Zhuang Ying replaced her Desert Eagle and grinned. “And you, Shu Hui?”
Shu Hui flipped her bangs off her face and smiled.
“Shut up, girl. I’m coming in second. 3 seconds, go stand at the door.”
Zhuang Ying obliged, inhaled deeply and kicked open the door.
Its occupants glared at her, yellow creeping into their pupils. Their skin had a bluish tint and their canines weren’t that long yet, which was good. It meant that they were caught by surprise.
Zhuang Ying flicked on the lights and fired coolly at the vampires, scattering them into showers of ash. Behind her, Shu Hui and Melissa moved in swiftly and fired at those that weren’t dead yet. Melissa smoothly kicked a vampire in the gut with her heavy combat boots, allowing her to bring him down and stomp on him to ash just for a small sense of satisfaction.
“Are they all dead yet?”
The three women turned their heads in shock. The speaker was a heavily muscled man clothed in a rumpled office shirt and pants. A thick ankle-length coat covered it all. His hair was greasy and looked it hadn’t seen a shower in years.
Zhuang Ying would hate to fight hand-to-hand with that guy.
Behind the man, Avril was on the ground with a pained expression. Her curled hair was in a mess and it looked like she had fought for a while.
Melissa noted the glazed eyes and the yellow colour creeping into them.
“Shit. They had Avril. They’ve turned her.” Melissa closed her eyes and breathed out shakily. She promptly sank to the floor and cried silently.
“It’s not too late to save her, is it?”
Zhuang Ying ignored Shu Hui and lunged at the filthy vampire with her Desert Eagle aimed and ready to fire, vowing to take down the Leader’s right-hand man once and for all.
She had had enough of him.
----
Shu Xian tapped idly at her laptop, debating whether to help Su Hui out with the medicine or just search for new vampire hideouts. Ding Ding, her white poodle lay at her feet as she mentally calculated the time Zhuang Ying’s team would return.
Two hours and they were still not back.
The unusually stoic woman adjusted her glasses as Valerie yawned and entered the room.
“Are they back yet?”
“No. It’s been two hours and 3 minutes. Usually they would get the job done within forty-five.”
Valerie yawned again sleepily and sat down on a chair nearby. Like Melissa, she slept mostly during the day but some days were exceptions. The only difference was that Melissa was a tainted vampire and she was a half-vampire.
Speaking of which, she felt her gut turning, like something bad was about to happen.
----
Su Hui watched Evelyn as she grit her teeth while her body accepted the blood. Flicking her bangs away from her face, the medic checked Evelyn’s pulse.
She wasn’t entirely normal either. Born human, her growing curiosity prompted her to inject herself with some of Valerie’s vampiric genes. Hence, she developed extremely sharp senses.
And the ability to sense whenever one of the hunters were in danger.
Evelyn swore loudly at the pain. Amused, Su Hui grinned at her.
“You’re going to die if you don’t get enough blood.”
“Bite me.”
“Sorry, I don’t swing that way.”
“This thing hurts like a bitch.” Evelyn muttered bitterly. She hated receiving transfusions. It wasn’t her fault that she needed blood with vampire DNA every week just so she could maintain her reflexes and agility.
“Let’s see, you ran into a vampire hideout and fired blindly, wasting all of your silver bullets, not to mention that you were alone. You had to turn tail and run for dear life just so you wouldn’t get your ass handed to you by a group of amateur vampires. Not only that, you ran the wrong way into an alley and had to run up the walls to escape. If that doesn’t make you eligible for a transfusion, I don’t know what else does.”
“I hate you.”
----
Shu Hui staggered into the headquarters, blood trickling from her fists as she carried a limp Zhuang Ying on her right shoulder. Behind her, Melissa trailed blankly, cheeks streaked with tears. Her carefully styled hair fell limp and her black tank top tore at the sides. Her combat boots had a few buckles missing and her black shorts were the only clothing that weren’t ruined.
“What did Zhuang Ying do?” See Min, another medic hurried out and helped the limp brunette off Shu Hui. Shu Hui wheezed and her knees buckled. Her empty Glock clattered to the ground and See Min winced at the sharp noise.
“I’m going to have to put her on sedatives first. As for you, Su Hui will figure something out. Melissa?”
Aforementioned girl mumbled something incoherent and cried again. She sank to her knees and covered her face, sobbing into her dirty palms.
“They’ve got Avril.”
See Min’s breath caught short in her throat as she tried to process her thoughts. Regaining her professional medic composure, she hoisted Zhuang Ying on her back and brought her to a bed before heading for the main office.
“I’ll tell the girls.”
----
“Get your feet off the chair!”
“No! What’s wrong with sitting like this?”
“Everything! Will it kill you to sit with both your feet on the ground for once?”
Shi Chun was close to tearing her hair out. She glared at the grinning half-vampire on her beloved chair. She sighed.
“And your dress sense. Wear something with colour, please.”
Valerie sniffled and sipped some coffee before turning to face the angry researcher. She listlessly fingered her white hooded shirt and sulked. Shi Chun’s sharp vampiric senses soon detected a rather flustered See Min about to barge into the office.
She was right.
“Team 2’s back. According to Melissa, the Leader’s turned Avril.”
Valerie’s scowl deepened. She dumped her coffee mug on the table.
“I doubt she would actually turn Avril herself. Was it that bastard of her right-hand man?” Shi Chun warily raised an eyebrow.
“Think so. Melissa’s Beretta 92 is missing, Zhuang Ying’s Desert Eagle is still with her and Shu Hui’s Glock is scarily emptied.”
Shi Chun closed her eyes and prayed for whoever had made Shu Hui use her gun.
“Shu Hui fought hand-to-hand and all their silver bullets are gone.”
“I hope he’s dead.” Valerie snarled as she kicked the table leg, making her right toe bleed ash.
See Min nodded. Wordlessly, she grabbed the angry half-vampire and dragged her to the lab. Shi Chun watched in silence before she sat down in front of her laptop and fired it up.
Time to track some vampires.
----
Zhuang Ying felt like shit.
To be exact, she felt worse than shit.
If she felt like shit, it probably meant that her last bullet missed the right-hand man and she was shot point-blank.
Shit.
Warily, she opened her eyes and stared at the white ceiling. A drip was attached to her left arm and she groaned as she did a mental calculation of her wounds.
“I would like to find out exactly why you decided to just run at the right-hand man firing at his head when it’s obviously your team’s specialty to discover the enemy’s weak points.”
Su Hui sighed and massaged her temples. Flipping through her papers, she made some notes on her clipboard and went over to the other girl lying on the hospital bed next to Zhuang Ying’s.
Zhuang Ying’s eyes widened.
On the bed lay Shu Hui, a drip also attached to her left arm. Her knuckles were heavily bandaged and she had a rather nasty bruise developing on her cheek. She waved wearily to Zhuang Ying and managed a weak smile.
“She fireman-lifted you back here all the way from the hide-out. Not only that, after you managed to wound the right-hand man, causing 30% of his injuries, she had to carry on the fight for you. She managed to cause another 40%, bringing up the total to 70%. She killed him with her bare fists.” Su Hui raised an eyebrow at Zhuang Ying.
Zhuang Ying grinned sheepishly.
“Hey hey hey, do you think Nick Jonas will come and visit me?” Shu Hui chirped happily as she stared at the medic with large shining eyes.
----
Valerie trudged listlessly through the streets, her arm stinging from where See Min had taken some ash samples. She stuffed her lightly clawed hands into her pockets and breathed in the misty air.
A vampire.
She hurriedly turned into a dark alley and forced the yellow into her eyes. Placing a hand on her hidden Beretta 92, she tensed her body and hid in the shadows. The half-vampire forced herself to be still. Her eyes widened and she forced the yellow back.
A guy no older than her was lying injured on the ground. Blood trickled from a fresh bite wound in his neck and his eyes held no signs of human life. He muttered something incoherent and Valerie winced.
“You okay?”
The guy noted her claws and tensed visibly. Yellow creeped into his eyes and his canines lengthened. Valerie smiled wordlessly and showed the man her own canines and yellow eyes.
“You’re not alone.”
The man smiled weakly in return.
----
“Who is he.” Su Hui deadpanned. She swiftly stuck a finger in the man’s general direction and scrunched up her nose. Shi Chun stared curiously at the man on the couch and noted his clawed hands.
Valerie sheepishly scratched her head. “Well, he was lying in a dark alley all alone. Someone turned him and you were the one who said we needed to help our kind in need.” She managed another nervous laugh before bracing herself for a huge rant.
“I cannot believe you let a stranger into our headquarters. What if he’s dangerous? What if he’s a spy?” Su Hui snapped and stalked towards the guy.
“Name? Age? I’m going to let you off the hook for this once. Shu Xian will lead you to the bathroom and a spare room.” The raven flicked her fringe and scowled.
The man stood up and rivalled Su Hui’s glare with one of his own. “My name is Larry, and I’m nineteen this year.”
“Fair enough.”
Shu Xian stood up and led Larry out. As soon as the office door closed, she moved smoothly and silently down the corridor. Larry squinted as he took in the surroundings.
The room was bright, too bright. It seemed like the whole room was bathed in some deadly glow. Stopping, Larry covered his eyes and winced in pain.
“Anything the matter?” Shu Xian quirked an eyebrow.
“Nothing... It’s just... too bright.”
The young human smiled. “I understand. You are a vampire, no? Vampires usually have trouble getting used to this lighting.”
“I didn’t use to be scared of light this much.”
Shu Xian ignored his statement and directed him into a room which was visibly darker than the corridor. The vampire relaxed and noticed the human beside him wielding a flashlight. To him, the room was as bright as day.
As if to answer his unspoken question, Shu Xian stated calmly as if she was merely spelling a word, “I’m using a flashlight because I’m human. Vampires are sensitive to light, but nothing will happen much except for a few rashes. You vampires are able to see in the dark but we humans are not. You will eventually get used to the light, like Shi Chun did. There are clothes in the wardrobe that might fit you. After your bath, please go to the lab.”
“Lab? What for?”
“I hope you have a high pain threshold.”
--End of Chapter 1--
Reviews would be much appreciated.
Frankly I think this chapter is crap ): I wasn't really in the mood to write it but I had so many ideas I had to evict some ideas to make room for new ones.