Nightfall – Chapter 2.Shi Chun pushed her fringe out of her eyes and frowned at the lab door. Beside her, Xia Yu yawned noisily and blew a raspberry.
“Is he coming or not?”
“He’d better.” The female vampire narrowed her eyes. “If not, we’re just going to ask See Min and Su Hui to settle it the old-fashioned way.”
Xia Yu swivelled on his chair and inspected the lab. He knew the place like the back of his hand. The lab was white and mostly consisted of machines that only Shu Xian, Chun Zi and Shi Chun would be able to figure out. Right smack in the centre was their latest baby, a large machine with a room capable of simulating a 3D virtual reality world, made for combat practice.
“Who’s up against him?” Melissa and Valerie barged into the lab, ready for the show that was about to start.
Shi Chun shrugged. Scowling even harder, she checked her watch.
“If he’s any later, we’ll give him special treatment.” She smirked. “Xia Yu and Carson both against him.”
“That son of a bitch will never know what hit him,” A manic look crept into Xia Yu’s eyes. “You are one evil vampire, Goh Shi Chun.”
Shi Chun reached over to the machine’s controls before smiling.
“I try.”
--
“You are going to die.”
Larry’s head snapped up. He looked at the speaker incredulously. “Come again?”
“You are going to die.” The pretty girl who had introduced herself as Chun Zi repeated her previous sentence in a bored voice.
“Why do you say that?” He picked nervously at his white tee before looking at Chun Zi straight in the eye. Fear was well-concealed in him.
“Your spirit is broken, you’re not used to being a vampire. What you are about to experience is like a test. We’ll have you fight some of us. If you beat them, you stay. If you don’t,” She shrugged. “Let’s just say you’re going to be used in the name of science.”
He shuddered. “I’m going to survive. Not only that, I’m pretty sure I’ll kick their asses.” Larry struggled to keep his voice calm. He wasn’t used to being spoken to like this.
“Bullshit. We have what you don’t. We have the power to adapt. Most of us here have vampire genes or even vampires. It’s not about whether you accept it or not, it’s about how well you adapt to your new life.” Chun Zi paused and headed for the door.
“Only the true vampires pass this test. If you can’t land a hit on us, you’ll never stand a chance against the others. Don’t ever underestimate your opponent.” She smirked and opened the door, stepping into the corridor.
“Good luck.”
Once she had closed the door, Chun Zi headed for the lab. That was pretty easy. All she needed to do was to intimidate him, scare him into losing, make him feel defeated. It was her gift of persuasion, with hypnosis thrown in.
Her job was done.
--
The vampire hunters waited with bated breath for Larry. Up on the platform, Carson and Xia Yu were chatting away like nothing was going on. To them, this was nothing but a mere exercise.
The door opened and the newest member stepped in. He swallowed and walked towards the platform.
“My, my, so anxious to start the test?” See Min laughed. Pulling out a list of rules from her pocket, she cleared her throat and announced, “The following rules are to be observed during the test. One, under no circumstances may you kill or cause serious injury to our members. Two, if you pass this test, you can choose to join us or fly solo. If you fail, you will be killed or used for experiments. Three, our members will not cause permanent damage to you, but they may kill you. If you happen to pass or end the test with a draw, you will receive medical attention and have the choice of joining us. Four, the test will end if a contestant is gravely injured or a party surrenders. Five, no weapons will be used. The test will consist entirely of hand-to-hand combat. That’s all. You may begin the test.”
Larry’s heart nearly stopped dead. Continuing his walk, he got up on the platform and assumed a fighting stance.
Xia Yu and Carson burst into laughter. Larry blinked in surprise before realising Xia Yu was just right in front of him and Carson was nowhere to be seen.
“Surprise, surprise.” The amateur vampire received a harsh kick to the stomach. Xia Yu laughed maniacally before delivering a swift kick to Larry’s head, sending the other vampire crashing to the ground. Larry swore in pain before performing a leg-sweep and sending Xia Yu flat on his ass.
“Fucker!” “Xia Yu, language!”
Using Larry’s distraction to his advantage, Carson tackled Larry from behind and slammed his elbow into the vampire’s back. The vampire howled in pain and fell to the ground in a heap. The human stood up and dusted his hands off before helping Xia Yu up.
“Well, that was beyond easy. I went really gentle on him.”
The angered amateur vampire cussed in silence before getting up and using his newfound agility. In a matter of seconds, he had run up to a distracted Carson and punched him across the face. The tanned human ran the back of his hand over his mouth and discovered blood.
Larry extended his clawed hands and held his right hand threateningly at Xia Yu’s neck, forcing the experienced vampire to freeze in his place. Using his left hand, he held a stunned Carson in a chokehold.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to underestimate your opponent.” The vampire breathed heavily as sweat trickled down his neck. He knew he was going to have to do some fighting but damn, he’d never received this much abuse before.
Both experienced members blinked in surprise before sharing a look.
“Welcome to the team.”
The vampire hunters erupted into applause.
--
“So, this is what we do. We judged your fighting style and decided you should be a hunter. Which means you will be placed into a team of 3 people and carry out tasks like hunting down vampires.” Su Hui explained.
“We have 2 complete teams so far. Team 1 consists of Xia Yu, Valerie and Su Hui. Even though Su Hui is a medic, she doubles as a hunter. Team 2 consists of Zhuang Ying, Shu Hui and Melissa. We put you into Team 3, consisting of Carson, Evelyn and you. No objections, I hope.” Shu Xian raised an eyebrow.
“The medics would consist of See Min and myself. Yes, only 2 medics, but we can cope.” Su Hui grinned. “The researchers are Shu Xian, Shi Chun and Chun Zi. I’m surprised Chun Zi didn’t discourage you enough. The last vampire we had was so scared of dying she ran out crying and never came back again. Who knows what happened to her.”
Shi Chun handed Larry a Glock. “We have 3 types of guns. Each member in a team uses a different kind. Since Carson uses a Beretta 92 and Evelyn uses a Desert Eagle, you’ll use this.” A black ankle-length coat was thrown in the new member’s face. “This is like our outfit. Whenever you go out, you wear it.”
“And you have to get a tattoo. I don’t care whether you want it or not, you have to get one.” Melissa announced as she gestured to her boyfriend, Kazu. “Kazu will tattoo your right arm. If it hurts, you can always scream.”
Larry paled as Kazu wielded his equipment. Even though the older man went easy on him and smiled to comfort the young vampire, Larry squirmed throughout the whole ordeal, as he saw it.
After the tattooing was done, the hunters gathered around and studied the hunters’ tattoo. The tattoo was an angel dressed in black with grey wings that folded around her. A gold circlet sat on her blonde hair and her eyes were closed, giving her a look of peace.
“Why an angel?” He looked curiously at his fresh accessory.
Valerie smiled. “Because it will protect you from harm and make sure you don’t die, ever. We all have one, on the right arm.” Her eyes lit up happily. “This little tattoo will be your guardian angel.”
--End of Chapter 2--This chapter is too short and I think I wrote some peeps OOC ): Must practise moar.