-MIDDLE GROUND-CENTRAL PLAINS-
Down the tracks, the train sped through the forest. Sun coming through the branches nicely lit the interior of the carriages. Inside, the delicate smell of leaves filled the air, it filled it with relief, the smell, it was full of relief as nothing but speed could be heard.
The whole carriage was relieful, all except a single corner of it, one part that was full of a dark aura, both calming and malicious. It's duality sending chills through spines.
The man sat in his seat, his eyes closed, his breathing slow and steady. He wore a dark coat, and a black tricorn hat rested on his head. Despite his young age, he looked tired. It seemed as if some ominous shadow lurked above him. It was clear he's been through a lot. Including his tough exterior, his eyes were empty, as if he had lost all connection to the world around him.
The other passengers on the train seemed to sense this, and they gave him a wide berth. They whispered to each other as they passed by, casting furtive glances in his direction.
The man ignored them, lost in his own thoughts. He was thinking about the mission ahead and the people he was traveling with. They were strangers to him, people who recruited him just a week ago.
He gently opened his eyes and glanced around the carriage through his eyelashes while his head was still bent back, comfortably placed on his seat's headrest. The other passengers were all asleep now, their heads lolling against the windows. The only sound was the steady speed of the train.
The man shut his eyes once again and centered his mind. He needed to be ready for whatever lay ahead. He was a hunter, and he had a job to do.
"I see you are ready for the mission," one of the three fellow passengers remarked in a hoarse voice. It was a man in his fifties, looking in shape for someone his age.
The younger man tipped his hat down to his eyes. "Just savoring the moment. Once we arrive, it will be a matter of life or death."
The old gentleman smirked, "Isn't every day like that in this world?"
The younger one opened one of his eyes and said, "Indeed, it might be, yet we can still have peaceful moments like this, why do you think that is?"
The older man simply smirked once again and then closed his eyes.
As the train continued forward, the younger one continued to gaze out the window, lost in thought. The older man appeared to be dozing off, while the other two passengers were busy examining their weapons. Suddenly, the train jolted to a stop, causing everyone to lurch forward in their seats. The man with a tricorn quickly regained his composure. As he sighed, he rose to his feet. "We're here," he announced, with a strange excitement in his voice. The older man stood up and glanced at the man, surprised by his change of mood, but quickly brushed it off. The team of four stepped out of the train station and into a bustling city.
The scent of spices and smoke filled the air, and the streets bustled with people of all shapes and sizes. Above them, the tall buildings loomed, creating long shadows that stretched across the narrow alleyways. The younger man looked around, taking in the sights and sounds of the city, while the older man and the other two kept their eyes peeled for any signs of danger. They had a mission to complete, and they couldn't afford to let their guard down.
After just a few moments, they saw a taxi driving by. The old man raised his hand, signaling the driver to stop. Eagerly, they hopped in and embarked on their journey. The team's destination was a small, dingy hotel located in the heart of the city. They checked in and made their way up to their rooms.
As they settled into their rooms, the older man called everyone to his room to discuss how they would proceed forward. The man with a tricorn was the last to arrive, and he could feel the old man's eyes on him as he entered.
"What took you so long, Nero?" The old man's voice cracked with a melancholic tone, hiding his annoyance.
The young man responded with a shrug. "Just getting settled in, Vic."
The old man clicked his tongue but nodded, then turned his attention to the others. "Alright, here are the pictures of our targets," he said, tossing two photos onto the table.
On each one, there was a beautiful woman. They looked almost identical, but you could see the differences. The first woman appeared weaker and thinner in comparison to the second woman, almost like a sickly version of her. The second woman, on the other hand, was brighter, more lively, and had noticeable muscle mass.
Nero took the photo containing the livelier one. There was something written on the back of it, "Stella".
"So that's them," said the young man. "Stella and..."
"Bella," Victor interrupted. "Yes, as I have already stated, those are our targets."
"Damn," Nero said in a flattering voice. "Are you sure you want us to kill these two and not just ask them out? They even own a restaurant, don't they?"
Victor looked at him, his brows furrowing and raised his voice, "stop joking around! This isn't a game!" He got closer to Nero's face. "I gave you this chance to join our organization because you were good at this job and looked like someone who takes it seriously. Don't make me doubt that."
Nero responded by tipping his hat over his eyes and raising his head a little before saying with confidence, "I am good at this."
The older man smirked a bit, "then start showing it."
"Ok, here's the plan," Victor quickly started, "We will attack Stella tomorrow. She works out at a 'Berserker Room' gym every day from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. You guys will go there. Nero will turn the fire alarm on while Wayne and Erik keep her busy. Once everybody is outside, you will kill her. Quite simple, really."
Nero looked in confusion, "so you are not coming then? What if something goes wrong?"
"Well, let's hope that doesn't happen."
Nero seemed dissatisfied with the answer, but he didn't want to argue at the moment, so he let it go.
As they left the room, the young man couldn't help but feel like something was off. He didn't know what it was, but he had a feeling that this plan was going to end badly, and he hoped something like that would happen.
The feeling didn't leave Nero as he and the two other team members made their way to the gym. He was certain that this plan would fail. However, he stayed silent.
The gym was a large, modern building on the outskirts of the city. A large parking lot surrounded it, and there were more than a few cars in it at this time of day.
The gym was bustling with people, and the trio had to be careful not to draw any attention to themselves. Nero headed towards the fire alarm while Erik and Wayne looked for Stella.
Nero reached for the fire alarm and twisted it on. The alarm blared throughout the gym, causing chaos and confusion. People began evacuating the building, and as Stella tried to follow her path got blocked by two men.
She was trying to figure out what was going on, but everything became crystal clear as the two men pulled out their guns.
The man with a tricorn made his way toward Stella and his colleagues with audible steps, eyeing Stella the entire time. She was a dazzling figure. Even in her sweaty clothes, she looked glamorous. She kept her cool, her back perfectly straight and her gaze unmoving. Her muscles were long, giving them a sense of elegance, but also gave her the aura of strength.
"Are you in charge here?" She asked.
"What if I am?" Nero answered nonchalantly, snapping back from his analysis.
"Listen, you have no idea what you are doing."
"No, I do. You are a vampire; you help other vampires find shelter, and through your restaurant, you are allowing them to get closer to humans. You built a whole empire here. One can say that you and your sister are something like vampire queens around these parts, and our job is quite simple…to kill you."
"And you think that would make the situation better? You don't realize how important we are here. Not just for our survival, but yours too. We control their bloodlust, without us all the vampires around here would turn this into their feeding grounds, call your man off and I will forget this situation ever happened," the whole time she spoke she stayed composed, it was monotone but warm, even little happy sounding, it was obvious she wasn't scared, and that she was telling the truth, at least she believed in it.
Nero noticed that. It was quite obvious to him that there is something about her that says, "I am in complete control," but he was interested in where this was gonna go, so he raised his hat a bit and said, "Interesting."
A loud sound suddenly filled the room. It was from Nero's gun, then another one followed, coming from Wayne's gun, then from Erik's, as all of them started shooting constantly.
When they stopped a grotesque scene was on display, the smell of blood filled the room and a red color stained the whole wall behind the corpse, Stella's head was almost nonexistent, some of her organs were pouring out of her body, and there was one of her eyeballs on the floor.
Without a doubt, she looked dead, and Wayne and Erik were certain she was, but Nero was not so sure. Two guys started going towards the exit with cheerful sounds, already planning where to get a drink after this.
Nero, however, stayed and stared at the body, anticipating something, the room was awfully quiet, not a single sound could be heard, and the whole room was filled with some kind of weird atmosphere, two men had now stopped feeling it and Nero was instantly aware of what it was, it was a feeling of a cat stalking its prey, like suspense felt the moment before it jumps on it, when everything is still, unmoving, quiet.
"Don't force me to kill you," sounded a female voice. Two men turned around to see what's the source, Nero had a hint of surprise on his face as all the organs started going back to their place and the corpse's head started growing back. Two men instantly raised their weapons and were ready to shoot again, but Stella moved past Nero at unimaginable speed and she knocked them out before they could even pull a trigger.
"My proposal still stands, I will let you go under the condition you don't pull off anything like this on me or my sister again, and I will not tell her, believe me, the last thing you want is for her to find out about this, she is nowhere near as reasonable as I am. If she hears of this fate far worse than death would await you. What's more, I am willing to help you people in the future if any of the vampires in this town or surrounding area go berserk." She said as she regained her composure.
Nero looked at her for a while and then spoke "Hmmm, well we put a whole tone of bullets in you, made a complete mess of this gym, all evidence points to us also stalking you or at least doing detailed research about you, we threatened you, and your sister but you would call her unreasonable for wanting to do…what? Torture us? Seems quite reasonable to me, definitely more so than just forgiving us, not just that, but offering us help too, ha, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
Stella looked in confusion and then started talking, her voice getting angrier, "are you going to accept the deal or..." Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the room, as half of her head was gone.
Nero was holding a different pistol than before, this one was bigger and looked far older, it seemed to be a type of flintlock pistol, one that looked like it would be carried around by a pirate with a rusted metallic part seemingly, as much as it didn't make sense, made from pure gold and the wood, black in color, had some weird, unrecognizable texture.
His answer to her proposal was obvious.
Stella's head started healing before she yelled furiously, "This is your last chance! Leave now and..."
Nero fired another shot, this time destroying the rest of her head, right after that she launched at him with the speed of a bullet and went for the kill, but Nero blocked her attack, a surprise could be felt in her body, she went for another hit but he shoots her hand, however; Stella followed up her attack and landed a knee strike to his stomach before punching him in a face.
Nero went flying across the room until he hit the mirror, which instantly broke from the impact, shards falling on the floor as the alarm was still ringing.
After being completely healed, Stella approached Nero, with each step crushing the small shards of glass beneath her feet. She approached him slowly, with caution despite him seemingly completely knocked out. Stella's steps slowly got more and more confidence behind them. Planning to kill him, she leaped toward him, but suddenly, a strong sense of fear struck her.
She stopped. Whatever that was, it was telling her not to try it. As she stood there without realizing it, her face started to sweat, and the aura of fear slowly dispersed.
Now that she had cooled off, she realized that there was no way someone so reckless could be the leader of this group, so she planned to wait till she met an actual leader to offer him the proposal.
She took her bag and walked out of the building, as soon as she walked out Nero tipped his hat a bit to uncover his eyes, then he got up and went to wake up his colleagues and got out of the building before the firefighters and cops showed up.
"You let her go!" Said Victor angrily.
"No…" Began Nero, raising a finger up to his face, "She kicked our asses and then left." he continued with a lighthearted tone.
Victor's face turned red with anger as he glared at Nero. "You let her get away? Do you have any idea what she's capable of?" He barked.
Nero shrugged. "Relax, we have time. Also, she said she would give us a proposal."
Victor's expression softened slightly at the mention of Stella's proposal. "What kind of proposal?" he asked, his voice now calm and curious.
"I don't know," Nero lied. "She didn't say. But I think it's worth hearing her out."
Victor narrowed his eyes suspiciously for a few moments but then shrugged it off. "I don't care what she offers. She's a loose end that needs to be tied up. We'll find her and take care of her once and for all."
"If that's the case, we should try it right now."
''What?" the old man, confused, asked. Nero pointed his finger towards the camera monitor, and there she was. Stella stood right in front of Nero's room.
Victor laughed at this, "This is perfect, ok, kid, here's the plan, you go talk to her, tell her if she wants to speak with me about her proposal, whatever it is, she will have to do it in three days in her restaurant, it will be a big dinner party and her sister is bound to show up along with her, then we can kill them both at once, tell her I simply want to make sure there is enough people around to be certain she won't do anything, she should agree to these terms with no hesitation as that gives her security too, on top of that it's her club." Victor said that and then continued laughing.
"Right away!" Nero responded.
Nero got out of the room, his face losing its charm as soon as he closed the door.
He started walking toward his room, where Stella was waiting. The hallways were quiet, and the tense atmosphere grew bigger the closer Nero got to the room.
Upon arrival, he noticed the doors were slightly open. He looked at them for a few moments before going inside.
"Hello there," Nero said almost jokingly, to a woman sitting in a chair five meters across from him.
She looked annoyed to see him. "Ah, I really hoped it wouldn't be you. I really find it hard to keep myself from killing you."
"Goes both ways," Nero responded.
"Perhaps you are right, however, I am the only one who has a proper reason for it," Stella said as she slowly got up from the chair.
"And I have a job," said Nero.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Stella started talking again, "Well that confirms it, I am now completely certain, you are not the leader of your little group, so where is he, maybe he will be willing to accept my offer, since you are so stubborn."
Nero glared around the room for a bit and then said "Yeah, he said he was not interested in it. However, he said he is willing to reconsider if you meet with him at your restaurant in three days. Apparently, you have some big dinner party that night."
Stella stared at Nero with a confused look. "Why, that makes little sense."
"This place fits everybody, you can't attack him there despite it being yours, most of the people there, if not all, are still humans and witnesses, he can't attack you either for the same reason, and if he chose a different place, it would be hard to establish a friendly atmosphere. This way it is also harder for you to refuse, wouldn't you say? Otherwise, he would probably have to face you now, wouldn't he? But this way, there is no violence needed. It's a simple request."
"Well, I guess he has everything figured out then." She paused for a bit. "Ok, I will accept his request, but considering how simple the deal is, I think this is too much fuss, so don't think I won't have my guard up."
"It's a deal then," said Nero.
"Yes, it's a deal," Stella responded.
Nero showed her a way out and then closed his door and locked them. He lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling till he fell asleep.
When Nero woke up, Victor called him to the meeting. He wanted to explain the plan in detail.
''We will kill them with a bomb," Victor said. "I called the organization yesterday and it should be here tomorrow. Me and Nero will go to meet her there. Nero will enter first and with a 'gift' bag. If she asks, you are simply further reassurance and I want to make sure everything is alright before entering. You will leave us once I come. I still want our chat to be private. There you will set the bomb. Whatever the deal is, it's not important. That's why location is great, even if I refuse it she won't do anything, we can leave and then let the bomb do the trick, of course, if the deal seems like something she would believe I would easily accept I will do it, further reassurance that she will stay put is always welcome.''
"Wait, but that will kill all the surrounding people too," Nero said.
"I know," Victor answered. "They are necessary sacrifices."
Nero looks at him with a face resembling that of anger. ''What do you mean, necessary sacrifices? If there is an explosion strong enough to kill them, at least twenty more people will die.
"Yes, and those are necessary sacrifices. Even if it ends up more than that, they will be responsible for far more than that in less than a year, that I guarantee."
"Ok, then," Nero says with a shrug.
"What?" Yelps Victor. Nero looks at him questionably for a second before Victor regains his composure, he then stares at Nero, he has never seen someone switch his stance that easily, he thinks about it for a second and then continues with a slower tone with more uncertainty, "ok… so everybody understands the plan?"
It was a splendid plan. There was no guarantee of success, but the chances of it seemed fairly high. However, Nero once again knew something would happen.
The day after the meeting, Nero needed to pick up the bomb, along with Wayne. They went to the train station, where they were supposed to wait for one of the members of the organization to arrive. While they were waiting, Wayne simply stood in place waited, humming to himself while Nero decided to walk around the station a little, looking around, watching, expecting every person, a few guys drinking bear as they were laughing with each other, a few teenagers that wore big sporting bags, dressed in clothes clearly representing a football team, a rat fighting ants, a girl dressed in all black with her headphones on standing alone, a few meters away from everybody else, and a cat peacefully sleeping on the floor. He stopped looking at the sky taking a deep breath, this might have been the only place in town with a scent of fresh air with its wide and open space through which a nice, light wind constantly blew, though now a trace of beer and alcohol evaporating from the men drinking could be felt too. That, however, did not bother Nero, not in the slightest. In fact, one could say he almost enjoyed it.
He returned his eyes to the station. Glancing around again, and noticed someone standing behind one of the pillars, one of the pillars near the end of the roof it was supporting, watching them. Nero leaned a bit to the side, and the figure moved a bit, clearly trying to hide from him.
It seemed incredibly childish and he could have sworn that was Bella, one of the sisters, but he stayed quiet. If he played his cards right, this could be exactly what he needed. He turned around and made his way toward Wayne.
Around half an hour passed and the man they were waiting for arrived. They exchanged a few words, and then the man left. All this time the figure staring at them hadn't moved, and after they left for the hotel, Nero glanced to get a look at her. She was smiling, with a creepy-looking, wide smile. Nero simply returned his look to the car and got inside.
"What if this plan fails?" Nero asked while he and Victor were getting ready for the dinner party.
"It won't fail, as hard as they are to kill there is no way for them to survive this, and there is no way they will ever see something like this coming, I'm sure how that thing won't see through me, so as long as you do your job right, which I'm sure you will, the plan will succeed and they will die."
For a moment, there was a trace of something that could be expressed as relief on Nero's face. But maybe, rather than that, it was understanding, understanding of his previous feelings about Victor's plans.
"You are sure I will do my job well?" Nero asked with a slight tremor in his voice. "When did we get so close and when did you get to know me so well to rely on me like this and even say you are sure I will do my job properly?"
"I saw some of your work. You already knew we followed you for a while before asking you to join us. Your failures earlier might have angered me at the moment, but you are a rookie at this after all, and you played some parts beyond my expectations too. One day you will undoubtedly be one of the twelve, well if you don't die before you get a chance, that is," said Victor.
"Twelve?" Nero asked in confusion.
"Yeah, the twelve most important members of our organization. I'm one of them myself. Once I, or the other member of the twelve retires or more likely dies, I have no doubt you will become one. It's just your first mission, not even, actually, since this is to determine whether you will even become part of us and it's already one of the biggest you can even get. There isn't a single person other than members of the twelve who even came close to being on a mission of this importance. You are the one who has arguably done the most work as well. So I think it's not a stretch to think you will become one in the near future." Said Victor in what you would assume was his proud voice.
However, Victor didn't realize how near that future actually was.
Two of them went out of the hotel and got into a taxi. They drove in silence, both knowing what they had to do.
A taxi stopped in front of the restaurant, they stepped out of the vehicle. Victor went in first. He still wanted even more assurance that the Vampire twins wouldn't try anything, so he went in first, while Nero was supposed to wait outside for a bit. He will make sure everything is safe and then he will call Victor over to the table. Nero stood in front of the restaurant for a few minutes looking around and playing with his hands.
As Nero walked in, classical music was leisurely playing. He searched the room for a bit, taking in the phenomenal smell of food that would make anyone hungry until he saw Stella sitting at one of the tables. She wore a long black dress with one of her shoulders revealing. She looked incredibly elegant despite the dress making her muscles clearly stand out. The dominant air of control oozed from her side of the table. He found it surprising that she wasn't seated in a more private area of the restaurant. Right next to her, a completely different aura radiated, one that yearned for blood. It was coming from a thin blond-haired woman who looked like a definition of elegance, wearing a white dress with golden lines going from top to bottom, the lower part of the dress being split into four parts two being white and two having gray marks on them. As soon as she noticed Nero, her mouth spread into a wide smile.
Nero looked at her for a few seconds. Her facial expression assured him she was the one spying on them yesterday. He returned his focus to Stella and went to sit at the table. The smell of strong perfume covering the smell coming from the kitchen. The sound of the pots falling made people silent for a moment.
"Good evening, nice to see you again," said Nero with a sarcastic tone. Stella's face evinced a trace of anger. "Why are you here? I thought we agreed how your boss would be the one coming here?"
"You didn't really think he would come alone, right? He is here, don't worry about that. He just wanted me to make sure it's safe for him to talk to you."
"Of course, he wouldn't come alone, especially after all the secrecy till now, but why did you have to be one with him? What's with the two guys that were with you at the gym?"
"Oh, are you afraid of me, or maybe you like me." He said jokingly.
Stella was now visibly furious now and wanted to yell but she found herself unable to respond, which made Nero laugh.
Stella took a deep breath and then exhaled. "What's in the bag?" She said, referring to the bag Nero carried with him.
The bomb was inside the bag, but Victor and Nero already assumed she would ask that, so they thought of a counter-measurement.
"It's a gift for you." Said Nero as he pulled the bottle of wine out of it. "I know you have more than enough wine yourself, but we didn't know what else we could get you." He said, putting a bag next to his seat where she couldn't see it.
"Aren't you going to give it to me?!"
"No, Victor should be the one to hand it to you."
"Then why did you carry it to here?"
"Why not?" Nero said not being able to come up with anything better while slowly taking the bomb out of the bag and putting it under his seat, it wasn't the original plan but there is no way he could place it unnoticed with Bella here, she would definitely keep watching him. It was obvious even if he tried to leave when Victor came he would probably be in a situation where he needed to sit with Bella or at the very least, she would follow him around. He may have known that Bella knew about the bomb, but he still had to do this right. If he manages to do that, everything will be ready.
"So, why does somebody like you even want to propose an offer like this one?" Nero said, trying to stall for a few moments.
"Why wouldn't I, like I said I want good for both sides, things are far better this way, you may not believe me but that's how it is, I've seen how this place looks without somebody to control vampire's hunger," Stella responded. "And that wasn't an answer. There is no reason for you to carry the bag here and not give it to me."
"Well, if you just saw a man randomly standing in the restaurant carrying a bag he doesn't know what to do with, wouldn't you think it's suspicious? You've been looking around this whole conversation. I assume you already know how he should basically look, considering you concluded I wasn't a leader from almost the looks alone." Nero said, getting the bomb out of the bag, but Bella was now observing him more closely.
"No, I wouldn't," Stella lied.
"Hmmm, well, that was our trail of thought." Said Nero, shrugging his shoulders.
"Ok, I think we talked enough for you to decide whether or not it's safe for your boss."
Nero was close to placing the bomb he tried stalling for just a bit longer as Bella got up and started walking to his side of the table.
Nero sighed. "Yeah, I guess." Bella stopped for a second because of this, buying him a bit more time as he started tapping his fingers on the table to buy a few more seconds, looking around.
"Alright." Nero sighed. He raised his hand, calling Victor to come over. "Come here, Vic!" He yelled as he finished placing the bomb.
Victor came to the table with a comforting smile. "Good evening, my ladies. How may I be of help to you?"
"So you are the leader of that little group that attacked me, ha?" Stella said, crossing her arms.
"Indeed, I am Ma'am. I heard you have an interesting offer for me, but first, let's have a drink."
"No need. Let's be done with it already, do you or do you not accept it?"
"Well, my lady, I don't even know what that offer even is yet, but it would be rude to simply skip right to that, no? Also, I would prefer if it was only the two of us speaking."
Stella sighed with a slight trace of annoyance. "Ok then, you two leave us, and Bella stays with him the entire time. I don't trust him."
"Well, now that's just rude," said Nero.
"Really, after all the precautions you had, you will call this rude," Stella said, getting more annoyed.
"Forgive him, my lady, he is still stubborn and inexperienced. It's his first job, actually." Said Victor, trying to clear the air between the two. "Now leave us, Nero, and don't bother Miss Bella."
"You know, talking like that sounds weird, but fine then." Responded Nero and walked from the table, followed by quiet Bella who was still wearing that unsettling grin.
Nero walked with somewhat cheerful steps across the room while Bella followed him to the hallway leading to the bathroom. Then Nero's walking style changed and suddenly it was as if the air in the hallway was that of a freezer. He stopped. Bella now dropped her grin though she didn't notice it.
"So, how was it at the train station yesterday?" Nero said in a freezing voice that even made Bella flinch a little.
"Hmm?" Bella asked, still not speaking a word.
"You were there yesterday for an entire hour, why was it?" He said with his back still turned to her.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," said Bella with a forcefully cute voice.
"Hmm, must have seen wrong then." Said Nero with his voice becoming warmer. "Sorry about that." He said as he turned around and gave her a little smile. Bella suddenly felt like she was on a hot beach soaking up the Sun.
"How about we get a drink?" Asked Nero.
"Sure, why not," Bella responded, but her grin was now completely gone.
"Why do you feel like talking so much? Just tell me, do you or do you not accept the offer?" Said Stella, still annoyed.
"Seriously, miss..." Victor sighed. "Once again, how could I say if I will accept it if I don't even know what it is?" Victor looks in the bag seeing the bomb is not in there anymore and can't help but let out a smirk, he then gives Stella a bag.
This time Stella raised her eyebrow on this. Does he really not know? She thinks to herself while looking in the direction Nero and Bella left with a suspicious face.
After a few moments of intense silence, Victor speaks "Ahhh...so...will you tell me or not?"
Stella looks at him for a second with a confused face, one you have after someone snaps you from trans, she sighs "If you decide to leave this town and leave me and my sister alone I will make sure she doesn't know about what you pulled off at the gym, she will most definitely kill you, even worse than that actually. I still haven't told her, and on top of that I am willing to help you in the future, in the case any vampire in this town or the surrounding area goes berserk, kills too many people, or anything similar I will help you hunt him or her down."
"Hmmm, intriguing offer, but why would I accept such a thing, after all, you are the one organizing all the vampires here, you are asking me to ignore the crime boss so I could arrest his lackeys, you are a far bigger threat than all of them, how many innocent lives did you take, and how many did they take, and you want me to simply turn a blind eye to that, you even want me to ignore the fact that they will kill people as long as it isn't, 'too many' as you say."
"You are too ignorant, listen, you may not know how it was before us but I do, vampires running rampant, humans actively hunting them, having wars against them, you are too young to know how horrible it has been, this is far better for both sides, trust me."
"Trust you? On what basis, you are just trying to make a deal so we wouldn't kill you, as simple as that, you want us to ignore the deaths of innocent lives you are going to take in the future, we don't need your help with vampire hunting."
"You..." Stella starts angrily but then collects herself. "And how many lives of innocent vampires have you taken if you want to judge us so much?"
"Innocent vampires?" Victor says, laughably. "None of you thirsty blood-suckers is innocent and you know that well, was that all?"
"So you are not going to accept, I presume?"
"If I don't, am I right to assume you will just dispose of us first chance you get?" Victor says with a smirk, accepting the positive answer.
"No!" Stella answers.
"What?" Victor says in shock.
"Even if you refuse, as long as you don't actually try to kill me or my sister again, I will do nothing to you," Stella says with a determined look.
Victor gives her a little laugh. "You are very naive and stupid." He stops and then puts an arm to his chin and frowns a little, "ok, I will accept your proposal."
"Ha?" Stella asks in confusion.
"But this deal is not permanent by any means. We have full intent to kill you, however, I guess it's fine to do this for now."
"Who said that you may break the deal?!"
"Nobody needs to say it. After all, who was going to stop us in the first place?"
Stella sighs "ok, it's a deal then. Leave this town by tomorrow."
Victor offers a handshake. "Will do, miss."
Victor stands up from the table and looks around to see Nero and Bella. He made a hand gesture to call them over to the table.
"Everything's been settled," Victor tells Nero. "Looking forward to working with you," He says, offering a handshake to Bella.
Bella looks at his hand with disgust but accepts it after a few moments.
"What?!" Nero says angrily. "What's this about working with them?"
"From now on we will cooperate with Miss Stella and Miss Bella, they will help us hunt down vampires that go rogue in this town or surrounding area, and, in turn, we won't hunt two of them or other vampires here as long as they don't go overboard."
"Are you out of your mind!" Nero screams furiously. "So you just want us to ignore them feeding on people, and to let them live."
Nero continues to rage on about it while Victor is trying to calm him down. Stella is looking at this with a frown. It just felt a little out of character to her.
"Just calm down, Nero, at least for now." Victor says, "You don't need to be so furious. This is a great deal, and you are going to ruin it."
Nero looks to the floor clenching his fists, "Argh... ok, ok, I guess I can contain myself for myself for now."
"Good then, let's go," Victor says and turns around, walking towards the exit.
Nero noticed Stella's confused and analytical face and, as Victor turned away from him, he winked at her and Bella. He turned away and waved his hand.
Their eyes widened as they saw this. It completely weirded them out. "Wai..." Stella tried to stop Nero, but he was already gone.
"What was that tantrum you just threw there" Victor screamed as Nero and he were walking out of the restaurant.
Nero just stayed silent.
Victor sighs, "I guess it worked to our advantage just now, but Bella was right there, going off what we know about her both of us could've died because of you."
"But we didn't," Nero exclaims. "And it was an honest reaction. Maybe a bit exaggerated, but I thought it was a good touch to our performance."
Victor smirks. "well I am glad to hear how passionate you are about this. Listen, Nero, you did a great job these past few days. It was more than enough for us to accept you to our organization. Far more, in fact, and now you helped us kill one of our biggest threats. I will most definitely suggest you as the future candidate for one of the twelve seats, and I will make sure that you have a prominent place in the organization until then."
Nero acted as if he didn't know how to respond for a second. "Tha... Thank you, sir," Nero said, bowing his head down.
"No need to bow your head, Nero, or to thank me. You deserved this. Now let us celebrate by killing those damned beasts."
Victor and Nero entered the car. Two men came to pick them up and as they drove away, a massive explosion was heard behind them. A moment of silence followed. They were all aware they didn't just kill the vampire sisters, but a bunch of innocent people along with them. However, none of them regretted that decision.
In the morning, they were listening to the news. Fourteen people dead, twenty injured, six of them in critical condition. That number actually surprised them, as they expected it to be higher. The explosion was quite big, and the restaurant was full. Victor used this moment to tell everyone just how great this turned out. Fourteen people seem like nothing compared to what he believed would be the outcome if they didn't do this. He also told Nero how he told everything to the organization and that tomorrow, when they arrive at their headquarters, he will become the official member of the organization.
For the rest of the day, the four of them were just walking around the town, each doing his own thing and enjoying till tomorrow when they would go back.
As the nighttime arrived, Nero was sitting on the sofa in his hotel room and watching the movie when he felt a sudden presence beside him. Without even looking, he knew who it was. "So you are alive. Nice to see you, Stella. How have you been?" He starts the conversation, still not turning his head towards her.
"You..." Stella begins angrily, but then sighs and straightens her back. "So your plan was to kill me there, but I told you already you will need far more than that."
"No, you just said we will need more than what we did at the gym. I'd say we succeeded in that."
"But, I'm still alive."
"Indeed, you are. Good job." Nero clapped.
Stella gritted her teeth, "come with me. You need to see something."
"Nah, I'm watching this right now."
"Don't anger me any further, you will..." A loud bang echoed through the room and the hallways outside. Nero fired his gun right at Stella's head, blasting half of the head off.
Stella began to heal. "If you don't come quietly, I will do it by for..." Another bang! This time, he blasted her entire head off.
"Can't you quiet down," Nero says calmly.
"You little..." Stella says angrily and goes to grab Nero, but he jumps out of the sofa.
"Ok, ok, I will come with you."
Stella takes a few deep breaths and regains her composure. "Well then, let's go," Stella says, but as Nero walks out of the room, she stops him and punches him in the gut. She lets out a little sigh and then leaves the room. "Come on."
Nero grunts from the pain, but quickly brushes it off and follows Stella to her car.
"So what was that?" Stella asks as they are driving.
"What was what?"
"At the restaurant, what was that? Why did you lash out like that?"
"What do you mean? It was a reasonable and honest reaction, I mean really, working with the vampires, pffft."
"Don't bullshit me." Stella snaps. "That's not like you at all."
"How do you know it's not like me, you barely know me, in fact you don't know me at all, we've met only three times and one of those was just us trying to kill each other, or well, me trying to kill you."
"It was enough to conclude that reaction like that isn't natural for you, and you confirmed it yourself with that wink at the end, on top of that you had a whole plan about killing us just after that so the entire deal was irrelevant, you were just playing around, why would you do it?"
"You will find out," Nero says calmly.
Stella stares at him for a moment, "what's that supposed to mean?"
Nero just answers with silence and they stay like that till they arrive at the field next to a forest. Stella parks her car next to the road there.
"Now don't act like you act like me. She will kill you if you pull anything similar as you did back in the hotel or the gym. I put in a good word for you. It's a chance for you to leave alive. Don't waste it." Stella says as they exit the cad.
Nero looks in the distance to an enormous field. The light mist was already down so it was hard to see in the dark, but as he squinted a little he could see it, crosses.
As Nero squinted a little, he could see tens of crosses sticking out of the ground. When he walked closer, he saw Victor and two other men crucified on them. Their eyes had been gouged out, and blood poured out of the empty eye sockets. All three had a hole in their chests where their hearts should have been, but their hearts were missing. As Nero looked around, he saw there were some other, older corpses crucified here as well, all in the same manner. And there in front of Victor's cross, she stood, Bella.
Holding the heart in her hand, she looked and Nero with a wide, sinister smile with the blood around her mouth and bit into it. Nero just watched her eat it whole and, as she finished, she sighed out of sheer joy.
"Let this be an example to you," Bella begins. "This is what happens when you make an attempt on one of our lives. Your life is now completely in our hands."
As she spoke the moon illuminated her, she looked like a goddess at that moment, a goddess of death, "if you ever so much as step inside of this town again expect something much worse than this, this pulls of blood beneath these crosses… they will turn into oceans, the blood of your people will flood the entire world if I ever see you again. I give this gift to you, the gift of life on request of my sister, but it is your life no longer. It's mine. Make sure to remember that." Bella finishes and licks the blood from her lips.
Nero walks closer to Victor's cross and looks up. Bella just widens her grin even more and begins to walk away.
She walks up to Stella, "Let's go, let him fall in despair."
Stella sighs, "You might've gone too far with this." She says and starts to walk away, along with Bella.
"Who said you could leave?" They heard a voice behind them say. "You will die here."
They stop for a second, "so you want to di..." Bella tries to say but stops as she feels that same icy feeling from before. They both feel it and shiver, hesitantly turning around to look at Nero, who is still turned away from them and looking up at the cross.
"Sorry, but I have a job to do," Nero says as he turns around.
As Stella and Bella look at him, they feel the sheer and utter fear. They look at his face. It hasn't really changed but his eyes, those deep, dark eyes, devoid of this world, they showed nothing, not a shred of emotion, empathy. They were just so... empty.
'Are those human eyes?' They thought to themselves. They looked completely normal, but the infinite emptiness in them looked like a void of darkness that spread to eternity.
Bella wanted to attack, though the stance she took before trying to rush at Nero, wasn't the one of confidence, confidence she had radiated before, it was that of fear, a desperate attempt of an animal that knows it's about to die.
And just as she tried to launch herself towards Nero, a loud gunshot rang out, followed by another one. Two bullets pierced Bella, one to her shoulder and one to her knee. She fell to the ground and started screaming in agony. She wasn't healing. Stella watched in absolute shock, "what the hell?"
Stella turned to Nero to attack him herself, but quickly he fired two shots at both her knees, rendering her unable to stand.
"Ho… what is this? Why can't I heal?" Stella screams while in agonizing pain.
"Bullets made of hellstone, you won't be able to heal from that," Nero says with such an icy voice that to the two, it seemed like they were suddenly on the South Pole. It was freezing.
Nero walks up to the two. "Now you stay there, Stella. I don't need to kill you. It's just her." He says as he puts his gun on Bella's forehead.
Bella just looked at him with terrified, hopeless eyes. A few tears dropped from her eyes and then…
A loud gunshot echoed.
Followed by complete silence.