The Vaunt Apartment Complex, Southport, New Jersey.....
When the dust cleared and the fighting had ceased, Ron Hemming stood victorious against the now headless bloodsucker as he turned his attention to the decidedly pale man lying on the floor with his back pressed against a part of the wall of his apartment. He was bleeding profusely and one could see the pinked texture of his intestines as he slowly bled out on his living room floor. The blood-sucking bitch's claws had really done a number on him as he clutched his silver crossbow staring rather intently at what he knew in his heart of hearts to have been his mortal enemy, a werewolf. Ron slowly raised his hands high in the air attempting to speak peacefully with the evidently dying man. He had no quarrel with him despite their respective circumstantial issues pertaining to their lifestyles.
"I'm Ron by the way," said Ron Hemming appearing to make conversation despite the weapon being trained on him. "I've been sent to keep an eye on you, in case the bloodsuckers tried anything, but she apparently got to you first."
"Why are you here beast?" asked the dying man in the corner.
"Hey, I don't think it's fair that I told you my name and you can't even do the courtesy of telling me yours," replied Ron seeming genuinely insulted at being called a beast.
"A dog with manners?" said the dying man finding himself utterly shocked. "How odd, you must be a novelty among your kind."
"Actually, they hate my guts about as much as you do right now," replied Ron honestly. "Feeling's mutual where they are concerned, but I am not a threat to you...especially not with you bleeding out in the corner."
The dying wolf hunter conceded that he had a point but kept his crossbow trained on him just the same.
"I suppose it's a habit at this point," he admitted. "Sort of a comfort thing, My name is Victor by the way...Victor Harlowe this was my apartment that I shared with my fourteen-year-old daughter Savannah."
He didn't know why he was telling a werewolf all of this, especially given that his daughter had not been even remotely aware of his moonlight profession in the first place, but there was no one else without proper training and anyone to take her in once he'd been gone, she was as good as dead if the vampires were to come for her in his stead.
"She doesn't know anything about my life as a wolf hunter nor her mother's as a vampire slayer." continued the dying Victor. "I would like you to keep her safe until she comes of age and could hone her skills as a hunter...it is the request of a dying man it seems and one that I do not make lightly, she is all that I have in this world and it pains me to have to leave her behind, especially with vile fiends after her blood...my blood."
Ron lowered his hands as the dying man spoke.
"You seem quite capable of handling yourself and are in your right mind unlike most of your kind, if you were truly sent to watch over us, then redeem yourself and look after my daughter...protect her from the "bloodsuckers" you are so against," said Victor as he began to draw his last breath. "Promise me..."
Ron walked over to the Wolf Hunter and kneeled beside him. Their eyes met locked in a strange notion of understanding that needed no words to communicate it. He took the dying man's hand covered with blood and shook it as a man would another when in agreement. Victor continued to clutch the crossbow and very weakly gestured toward the silver key around his neck.
He instructed Ron to take it and the chest he had hidden in a secret part of his bedroom closet. The dying Victor had made him promise to give it to his daughter when the time was right and made sure he knew that Savannah was going to be on her way home come morning as she'd been spending the night with a friend. Victor Harlowe further instructed him to wait for her at the apartment if he could in case the vampires returned to give her a better chance at escaping them.
Ron had not been much for mortals, let alone Wolf Hunters, but seeing as this father had gone to such lengths even to the point of reaching out to his lifelong enemy for assistance in his time of need for the sake of his child, he couldn't help but adhere to the dying man's wishes. It was also much easier to comply than to have to kidnap the child later to keep her out of the blood sucker's clutches.
Victor thanked him personally and added an initial warning about not making him regret his decision to reach out as he continued to clutch his crossbow until he finally bled out on the living room floor.
Ron left him there not one for sentiment as he headed toward the Master bedroom with the silver key in hand in search of the mysterious chest that the dying man had wanted him to keep for his daughter. Knowing the girl wouldn't be back until morning, Ron decided the best course of action would have been to deliver the chest to his place as he was going to bring the child there when she arrived the following morning.
He returned after a quick trip and sat patiently in the darkness of the dead wolf hunter's bedroom looking over photo albums and reading birthday and Father's Day cards. It would appear the young lady was quite a sweet person and loved her father a great deal. Ron sighed knowing that she would be hit the hardest when she arrived to find he'd been killed and by a bloodsucker no less.
Unbeknownst to Ron Hemming, Savannah Harlowe had already left her friend's house and had been well on her way back to her apartment she couldn't sleep and had a terrible feeling that drove her to sneak out of the house where her friend's family lived and rush home to see about her father whom she had known to be a traveling salesman that spent most of his time out of town and in various places.
It was just the two of them as her mother died in childbirth according to her father and he attempted to make the best of what remained of his little family caring for his daughter himself as he had not trusted many people with her wellbeing until she was old enough to be left home alone and follow his expressed instructions whenever he'd been gone. Savannah took note of the damage to the property that occurred during Ron's fight with the bloodsucker, the toppled debris, and the damage to the wall that came from her apartment.
She quickly rushed up the stairs and stopped at the broken glass and stepped through the body-sized hole that led into her former home as she took note of the blood and broken glass she began to panic. There was a headless corpse that smelled as if it'd been dead for weeks instead of just a few hours prior and the lifeless body of her father huddled against the wall with a gaping hole in his abdomen and dark red blood pooled around him.
Savannah burst into tears as she rushed to her already deceased father's side taking note of the silver crossbow he still clasped in his cold dead hand. She was about to question what had happened to him and why there was a corpse on the ground when she hear the sound of movement coming from his bedroom.
She quickly took the crossbow into her hands ignoring the blood and the heaviness of the weapon as the adrenaline pumped through her as well as the sadness and the anger at someone being in her home after her father was so clearly murdered. Thinking perhaps that it had been a looter or a scavenger, she attempted to aim the heavy weapon as she slowly entered the bedroom with it slightly trained upon a strange-looking man similar to her father's complexion wearing a black suit jacket and black jeans with messy dark brown hair who seemed to be looking through an old photo album.
Savannah didn't know who this man was and as far as she was concerned he was a trespasser and possibly the one that murdered her father in the first place. She attempted to fire the crossbow at him only to have it jammed as she wasn't familiar with how to use it.
The clicking sound it made apparently got the attention of the intruder as he swiftly closed the photo album and attempted to seize the crossbow which prompted Savannah to squeeze the trigger and it fired.