Author’s Note: '08 Edit: So, for old readers, you know I'm editing (and occasionally rewriting) the story (as I do every year). I really couldn't stand the old first chapter, so instead of waiting until I was done the story, I'm posting the chapters as I go. So! Here it is. I like it a lot better. And I hope you do, too! And to new readers...welcome! Heed the story warnings and I hope you enjoy!

Story Warnings: Swearing, lots of violence, a bit of sexual abuse, kissing, male/male innuendoes, shouen-ai, and shoujo-ai, yaoi, drinking, some poisons are used occasionally, and cruelty to certain characters, incest and occasional bondage. (Cough) Most of things don’t happen very often…

Chapter Warnings: None for this chapter. Just mild swearing and violence.

Chapter One: A Mission Gone Wrong

Verity

I linger in the doorway...

"Your mission is quite simple," Greval began. "You are to go down to the Misil Warehouse and destroy all the vlazians on the perimeter. I’m giving you two hours, then you must be back. If you are not at your hovercraft by midnight, you will be left behind. We cannot risk the vlaziansdiscovering our location. Is that clear?"

"Yessir," we said in unison. It was the same procedure for every mission. It’s not like it was going to change suddenly.

"Then you are dismissed."

We filed out of the briefing room and went our separate ways until it was time to leave. I headed to my tiny room, boots clacking down the hallway of the Organization of Daylight Hunting. I hated it here, but there was really nowhere else to go. Sure, there were other Hunting organizations, but most weren’t willing to hire an eighteen-year-old, when the minimum age was twenty-one (and sometimes twenty). I was the youngest graduate from the Training Campus of Hunting, having started my training at the age of twelve opposed to sixteen.

It’s not that I hated my job; I actually really liked it. Being able to help people by killing the man-eating monsters known as vlazians made me feel really proud of my work. Especially since it was these monsters that had killed my parents and left me an orphan at twelve. I’d been found by a group of Hunters not long after their deaths, and taken to live at the TCH, where I’d taken an interest in Hunting and had become their youngest student.

The therapist there had figured I was only doing it because I wanted revenge for my parents’ deaths. I’d be a liar if I said she’d been wrong. But while the desire for revenge had slowly been pushed down over the years, my desire to kill these monsters had only grown.

I just wished I worked anywhere else but here.

I finally reached my room, punching in the code to unlock the door. It slid open, closing behind me as I stepped into the cramped space. My bed was a mess, as usual, but I didn’t bother making it. Instead, I pulled together all the weapons I would be bringing with me, and lined them up for cleaning. It took a lot of time to clean each one of them, but it was worth it. It would’ve sucked to get killed just because a clump of dirt had gotten lodged in the laser cartridge, or the trigger stuck in the middle of an attack.

I turned on my music player, sitting on the bed next to my weapons with my cleaning supplies. I had one hour before it was time to leave.

Since I did this every day, it didn’t take long to finish with my guns. Setting them aside, I got to work on my knives, making sure they were all sharp and clean. Vlazian blood was disgusting: dark, thick, and smelling of death and rot. It was also a bitch to clean off of blades, which is why I took great care to clean mine every day.

Once my knives were clean, I stood up, put away the cleaning supplies, and glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes.

I moved over to my wardrobe, pulling out my lightweight armour. It was extremely thin and flexible, feeling simply like another layer of clothing. My weapons took a bit longer to secure, and by the time I was ready, it was time to go.

I stepped out of my room, locking the door behind me, and headed swiftly down the hall. I passed a few other Hunters on the way, but none that I knew well. Most of them looked down on me because of my age, and generally avoided me. But I wasn’t bitter; I did the same to them.

I finally reached the briefing room, but found that only one of my other teammates was there. Sibil looked up as I walked in, his silver-blue eyes wide. He smiled when he saw who it was, relaxing.

"Oh, hi, Ver...I thought it was someone else..."

"Like Gregiry?" I asked, going over to sit next to him.

He nodded, looking back down at the map in his hand. "I can’t stand him. He’s just so...creepy."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Tell me about it. He won’t stop hitting on me, but I always catch him glaring at me when he thinks I’m not looking."

Sibil grimaced, tapping the screen to make the map zoom in. "Does this mission seem weird to you?"

"Kinda," I replied, peering over his shoulder at the screen. "I mean, normally we have two teams going, one to do the raid, and the other to act as back-up."

"But this time it’s just us."

"Yeah." I shrugged, reaching up to fix my long black hair into braids. "But I’m sure Greval knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t be our boss if he didn’t."

"That’s true." His smile was a bit happier this time as he set aside the map.

I finished off my braids, tossing them over my shoulder. Shooting a frown at the doorway, I turned back to my black-haired friend.

"Where is everyone?"

He shrugged, wrapping his arms around his knees. "They should be here soon."

Right after he said that, the rest of our team strode in, Gregiry in the lead. I guess he was good-looking with shaggy light brown hair and honey eyes, but he was an asshole and I hated him. Clinging to his arm was Dianna, the buxon blonde slut, and chattering about nothing was Jessie, our resident airhead. Gregiry shot me and Sibil a smirk as he passed us, and while Sibil quickly looked away, I glared at him. Before I could start a fight, Greval walked in, carrying an electronic notepad (e-pad) in his hand. He looked over us briefly with his cold grey eyes, before nodding.

"You already know your mission, so I’ll give you your equipment. Headsets, goggles, tracking devices, and multi-task arm attachments. Standard." He quickly gave out the equipment, waiting until we’d sorted ourselves out before adding, "Good luck. I will see all of you in two hours."

He left the room, another door opening to the garage. We filed out of the briefing room and walked over to our assigned hovercraft. Gregiry took the wheel, while I opted to sit in the back with Sibil and Jessie, leaving Dianna with shotgun. She smirked, happily sliding in next to her object of lust (erlack). I spent the trip trying to ignore their crude flirting by making conversation with Sibil. It was somewhat successful, but Sibil wasn’t very talkative at the best of times, and was always uncomfortable around the other members of our team. The only reason we probably became friends was because of our mutual hate for our teammates.

"We’re here."

Sibil and I looked up in surprise, peering out of the windows and the ruined and overgrown parking lot. The Misil Warehouse had been abandoned for several months after being attacked by vlazians. We hadn’t come earlier because the threat hadn’t been enough to send Hunters (and we had plenty of other threats to care of that were a lot more urgent). But now the vlazians had turned the old warehouse into a nest, we were here to clear it.

The five of us climbed out of the hovercraft, taking a few minutes to turn on our equipment and form a plan.

"We’ll split up and take different positions inside the warehouse," said Gregiry, acting as leader. "We can cover more ground that way and get the job done quicker. We’ll keep in radio contact in case of trouble."

We all agreed, and I narrowed my violet-grey eyes at the big ugly building. Something didn’t feel right...

"Are you okay, Ver?" asked Sibil quietly, brow furrowed.

"Yeah, I’m fine." I shrugged off the feeling, walking toward the warehouse. "Let’s just get this over with."

The old doors were open and we snuck in quietly, not wanting to alert the vlazians to our presence. Once inside, we all pointed out our destinations on our maps so the others would know, and then we split up.

I crept down the metal stairs to the basement level, breath held and body tense. The instant I reached the bottom, a quivering shriek rent the air, making me jump. Shit, the vlaziansknew I was here.

I yanked out two of my guns, poised for the coming attack. Soon, two of the freakish creatures jumped out from behind boxes, charging for me. Walking steadily forward, I shot them down, continuing deeper into the mess of decaying boxes. More vlazians sprang out, some dashing across the floor, others crawling spider-like across the walls and ceiling. Mouth thin, I started shooting, not blinking as I was rushed by the hideous creatures that looked like skeletons with patchy, rotting skin sewn across them. The smell of their blood clogged the air as I killed one after another. My guns held up until the last one was dead. Ears perked for the sounds of movement, I retreated to a corner to check my timer. I still had time until I had to be back at the hovercraft.

The sound of claws scratching the ground caught my attention, and I peered around the corner, goggles showing the heat-patches of approaching vlazians. My eyes widened. Shit. Clan leaders.

I drew back, quickly trading weapons. Two bigger guns in hand, I jumped out, aiming for the new arrivals. They were a lot harder to kill, since they were faster and stronger. I sprinted through the basement, trying to avoid getting killed while making sure that they did.

Finally, I couldn’t see any more vlazians. My timer showed me that I had three minutes to get back to the hovercraft.

"Shit," I hissed under my breath, holstering my weapons and sprinting for the stairs.

My boots pounded the ground as I headed out to the parking lot, sweat plastering my hair to my neck. When I reached our parking spot, I skidded to a stop. My mouth fell open as my eyes widened.

What the HELL?!It was gone. The ‘craft was gone.

Panicked, I checked my tracking device, peering at it frantically. No one. They had left me!

Mockingly, my timer went off, telling me that my two hours were up.

Fists clenched, I pressed a button on my headset.

"This is Sauda. Where the hell are you guys?"

Static.

"Come in, team! This is Sauda!"

Still nothing.

Frustrated, I tried the ODH.

"HQ, come in. Sauda here."

More static.

Angry, I ripped off my headset, throwing it to the ground.

"What the hell?!" I screamed, hands clenching in my braids. "Those fucking bastards! I wasn’t late, so why the hell did they leave me here?!"Of course, I didn’t get an answer.

I stood there, dazed. I couldn’t get in contact with anyone, and I didn’t know how to get back to the ODH. And even if I did, there was the threat of vlazians along the road.

And I wouldn’t be able to take all of them.

I shook my head to clear it, steeling my resolve. Fine. I’d been abandoned. Hopefully they’d come back for me. Maybe not. But I wasn’t just going to sit here and cry about it.

I walked back to the warehouse, sliding out two of my knives. I wasn’t sure if the building was fully clear or not, and I wasn’t going to take any risks.

I headed carefully back down to the basement level, eyes flicking around, searching for heat spots. Nothing...

Suddenly, I heard movement behind me. I spun around just in time to bring up my knives and slice off the decaying hand reaching for me. The vlazian screeched in pain, mouth open wide, revealing its long, blood encrusted fangs. I leaped backwards, staring into its empty eye sockets, my heart pounding. As I expected, it followed me, reaching for my throat with its other hand. I quickly ducked, bringing up both arms to drive my blades deep into its stomach, and dragging them down. Nausea clenched my own stomach as blood spurted out, quickly followed by black entrails. I sprang away, spinning around to spot any other monsters coming at me. My throat clenched when I saw how many there were. Where the hell had they come from?!

Growling, I ran at them, knives raised. Slashing, spinning, cutting, I took down as many as I could, hot blood spattering me, making my knives slippery. Just as I was taking down my fifth vlazian, another caught my shoulder, claws biting deep into my skin. I screamed in pain, pulling away, pivoting on my heel. Before it could get me again, I drove my blade into its throat, dragging it sideways. It fell to the ground as I ran, trying to find some safe spot to get my bearings. I finally came to a stop under a huge balcony, turning to face the killing ground as I wiped blood from my goggles, panting. The monsters were creeping towards me on all fours, fangs dripping and harsh growls tearing out of their throats. I gulped. Shit. I wasn’t going to survive this.

A beeping suddenly came from my arm attachment and I looked down in surprise. A message scrawled across it.

Come to the storage room beneath the walkway.

"Please let it be my team," I prayed, shuffling over to the storage room, my eyes fixed on the monsters in front of me.

Before I could reach the room, however, the monsters sprang at me. I clenched my eyes shut, bracing myself. This was it. But when nothing hit me, I warily opened my eyes. They widened. The vlazians...they were all...dead. Stunned, I turned around, staring into the dark. I couldn’t see anything. I turned to the left, but saw nothing. Same with my right. Breath held, I turned back to my left to get the hell out of there, but froze when I saw a tall, dark figure, leaning against a pillar.

"That was a pretty impressive fight," commented a male voice.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I demanded, voice tight. I couldn’t make out his face because of the poor lighting and the wide-brimmed hat perched on his head.

The man chuckled. "Sorry to surprise you, but I thought you might need a little help. I sent you that message."

I glanced down at my arm attachment, eyes flicking back up to him.

"Oh. Uh...thanks," I said, still suspicious. "But you didn’t tell me who you are."

"I’ll tell you once we get out of here."

I slowly walked forward, stopping a couple feet in front of him.

"Where are we gonna go?"

"Can’t tell you that. But don’t worry; it’s safe."

I narrowed my eyes at him, knives still clenched in my hands. "How do I know that?"

He sighed, pushing himself away from the pillar.

"I’m not going to hurt you. If I was, I would’ve let the vlazians get you."

I glanced at the dead monsters, who appeared to be frozen.

"You killed them?"

"Yeah."

I sighed, finally sheathing my daggers. "Fine. I’ll go with you. But if you try to do anything to me, I will kill you."

"Duly noted. Let’s go."

He grabbed my hand, and I suddenly felt like I was being pulled through a vortex. My eyes crossed, my stomach flipped, and I couldn’t tell up from down. What the hell?Just as suddenly as it came, the feeling left, and I found myself sitting in a hovercraft, staring through the windshield at the parking lot outside of the warehouse. The ‘craft started and we peeled out of the parking lot. Eyes wide, I turned to stare at the blond man beside me.

"How the hell did we get here?" I demanded, body tense. "What did you do to me?"

"That was teleportation. I figured it would be the fastest way out of there."

"You’re not human, are you?" I murmured, mind racing.

He glanced over at me, smirking. "Nope. I’m a vampyre."

Instantly, my hand went to the gun at my waist, but cold fingers wrapped around my wrist, stopping me.

"I could kill you before you even pulled that out of its holster," he informed me, almost sounding amused.

"What would be the point of rescuing me if you were just going to kill me?" I asked, eyes narrowed.

He shrugged, unconcerned. "I help people in trouble. But I won’t feel guilty for killing you if you try to kill me."

Still staring at him, mouth thin, I let my hand reluctantly drop from my gun. The vampyre smiled at me, revealing pointed fangs.

"Just relax. I’m not going to attack you."

I pulled off my goggles and turned my head to stare out the window, not answering.

I almost wished I were back at the ODH.

"We’re here."

I jolted awake, staring around in confusion. Where was I? How had I...?

Oh. Right. I’d been rescued by a vampyre.

I turned to look at my rescuer, a frown creasing my brow when I saw that his seat was empty. Where had he...?

"Planning to get out any time soon?" drawled a voice to my right.

I started, my head snapping around. The vampyre was grinning up at me, an oddly shaped package under his arm. He was holding the door open for me.

I hesitantly slid out of the ‘craft, feet hitting the tiled floor. Looking around, I realized we were in a garage (although it looked an awful lot like a stable...). The vampyre tilted his head toward a door up a short staircase.

"Come on, entrance is this way."

Warily, I followed him, waiting as he punched in a code, pressed his thumb to a pad, and bent to line his eye up with a scanner. Giving a happy beep, the door slid open and he walked in, me close on his heels. I didn’t trust him, but I sure wasn’t going to be left on my own in a strange building full of God-knows-what.

We walked down a hallway, past a couple doors, until finally reaching the foyer. I gaped, stopping. Holy crap! This place...was gorgeous! I could tell that it had been a castle, both from its size, structure, and decoration. Marble floors, murals on the ceiling, a sweeping mahogany staircase, and huge carved doors. Three sets of doors led to the foyer. The ones to my left were probably the front doors, but the ones behind me and in front of me...I wasn’t sure. There was also a hallway beside the doors in front of me.

"Hey, come on."

My attention was brought back to the vampyre, pulling me away from the studying of my surroundings. I caught up with him, arms wrapping around me.

"Where are we going?"

"To meet my boss."

I frowned in confusion, but before I could say anything, he was pulling open the doors in front of me, revealing a large room. I followed him in, eyes widening. The room was beautiful, like every other part of the castle I’d seen already. It was full of couches, chairs, file cabinets, and a fireplace on the other side. I saw a few tables with screens in them, probably used for maps and holograms. Floor to ceiling windows lined the wall to my left, thick curtains pulled aside to let moonlight pour in.

But it wasn’t the furnishings that caught my attention; it was the people. There were at least forty, sitting on every available surface, attention fixed on one man in front of the empty fireplace. Of course, that attention was turned to me and the vampyre when we walked in. The brown-haired man in front of the fireplace stopped talking, peering at us curiously.

"Welcome back, Tamal. We were just having a brief meeting." He glanced at me, eyebrows raised. "And who’s this?"

The vampyre (Tamal?), took hold of my arm, pulling me quickly across the room. I stumbled along beside him, too freaked to protest. We stopped in front of the brown-haired man, and I stared up at him from my grand height of 5'2".

"I saved her from some vlazians on my way back from Malcy’s," Tamal replied, finally releasing my arm to hand the man the package. "She’s a Hunter."

Surprised murmuring started among the crowd of people around me. The brown-haired man nodded.

"Human?"

"Of course I’m human," I snapped, fear shortening my temper. I spun to look up at the vampyre beside me. "Now what’s going on? Why the hell did a vampyre save me and bring me here? Where the hell am I?!"

"We’re not going to hurt you," soothed the brown-haired man, placing a light hand on my shoulder. "We have no reason to you."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.

"How do I know that?"

"Well, are you going to hurt us?"

"Only if you attack me."

"Exactly." His chocolate brown eyes were amused. "Now that we have that settled, let me introduce myself." He held out a hand. "I am Ewgard Nistle."

I shook his hand, softly offering my own name. "Verity Sauda." I looked around, still wary. "Where am I, exactly?"

"This is the Night Hunters," replied Ewgard, hands sweeping to take in the room. "We, like you, are Hunters of vlazians and villains. Of course, we tend to target vampyre gangs and other non-human bad guys." He smiled at my expression. "I see you’ve heard of us."

"Every organization has heard of you!" I exclaimed, hands flying. "No one’s ever been able to find your base!"

"Well, this is it."

I stared up at Tamal. "Why would you bring a human Hunter here?"He shrugged, turning to look at something. "Where else would I have brought you?"

"Uh, home?" I suggested, eyebrows raised.

"Back to the people who abandoned you to be killed by vlazians?"

My mouth snapped shut. He had a point.

Ewgard stuffed his hands in his pockets, clearing his throat.

"Well, Verity, you look as though you could use a shower and some sleep. Why don’t you stay here for now, and we’ll discuss things tomorrow?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "Here? But...everyone’s a vampyre!"

"Not everyone!" remarked a voice from behind me.

"If you’re concerned about being attacked, don’t worry; we may be non-human Hunters, but we don’t hurt people who don’t hurt us, human or not."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Promise?"

He nodded. "Promise. Now, Tamal will take you to a room you can use."

I bit my lip, tucking a braid behind my ear. "Okay...thanks."

"Think nothing of it."

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I was led out of the room, past the crowd of still-staring vampyres. None of them looked particularly bloodthirsty...just curious.

I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, only looking up when we reached the staircase in the foyer. The steps were worn, showing their age. How long had this place been around?

The top of the stairs opened into a long hallway and two elevators. We stepped into one of the elevators, Tamal pressing the button for the thirteenth floor.

I raised an eyebrow.

"You have a thirteenth floor?"

He smirked. "Of course. Superstitions don’t work on the supernatural."

It didn’t take long to reach the top floor, and the hallway we walked out into looked almost identical to the one we’d just left. There were three doors across the hall, one on each side of the elevator, and one on each end of the hall.

"That’s my room," said Tamal, pointing the hall directly across from us. He turned to the right, leading me to the end. "And this is the one you’ll be using."

He pushed open the door, leading me inside, his hand lazily flicking on a light. I stared in awe. This...well, this was my dream room. Deep purple walls, a four-poster canopy bed, a fireplace, and a huge window covered by thick curtains.

I turned my stare to Tamal.

"I get to stay here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah..."

"Seriously?""Not what you’re used to?"

I shook my head, eyes drifting back to study the ornate room. Tamal walked past me, pulling off his hat. He ran a hand through his neatly cut wavy blonde hair as he pulled aside the curtain to peer out the window. Wanting to know what the view was like, I walked over, stopping beside him. I could see a garden far below, a small field beyond that, and a vast forest surrounding it.

"I never expected the NH to look like this," I murmured in wonder.

"We vampyres know how to work in style," joked Tamal, grinning down at me.

I glanced up at him, pausing, my heart skipping a beat. Oh, wow. He...he was the hottest guy I had ever seen in my life. Stray strands of hair fell into his eyes, which looked as though they couldn’t decide whether to be brown, blue, green, or yellow, the colours instead swirling together. I noticed, to my amusement, that he was wearing eyeliner, but I chose not to comment. A single, small, gold ring hung from his left ear, the only evidence of jewellery on his body (although I couldn’t see much beneath the black shirt, pants, and trench-coat). But I could tell that body looked just as good as his face...

He frowned, leaning closer.

"Hey, you okay?"

Realizing I was staring, I quickly looked away, my cheeks flushing.

"Uh, yeah. Perfectly fine. Just tired."

"Alright. Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. Take a shower, too. You’re covered in blood."

"Yeah, I will."

He gave a small wave, disappearing. What the...? Oh, right. Teleportation.

Shaking my head, I walked over to the door on the other side of the bed. Pushing it open, I found a bathroom just as nice as the room. Marble and gold appeared to be the colour scheme. Spotting the shower next to the bathtub, I nearly wilted in relief. I was desperate to get this blood off of me.

I ripped off everything I was wearing, tossing it aside. I could worry about it in the morning.

Once the water was running nice and hot, I basically threw myself into the shower, a groan escaping me. I didn’t even care that I was in the infamous Night Hunters headquarters...I was too tired and happy to be clean to give a damn. Ignoring my throbbing shoulder, I washed up, a stupid grin on my face.

After a long shower, I finally got out, a cloud of steam following me. Finding clean white towels hanging neatly next to the stall, I grabbed one, wrapping it around myself. Drying myself off, I returned to the other room, turning off the light and crawling into the bed, naked (I could not bring myself to put on the clothes I’d been wearing). Sinking into the soft bed, I sighed happily, pulling the dark purple comforter up to my chin.

I was asleep in an instant.