Blood and Tears - Grumbo Vampire AU

Chapter 14: Hurt

His footsteps were quiet, barely making a sound as he crept through the shadows of the forest. Moonlight slipped through the leaves, guiding the path forward. The man bent down, his gloved hand dragging through a spot in the dirt. Two pairs of footprints, far too deep in the forest for it to be humans from the kingdom.

Monsters.

Xisuma lifted his crossbow, his dark purple hood covering his cold expression. His cloak flowed with the midnight wind, brushing against the monster hunter's cheeks. He pulled his bandanna over his nose, covering his face from the breeze as he pressed onward.

After months of slowly capturing beast after beast, Xisuma was beginning to determine where the monsters had been hiding out. Most of the forest was still uncharted, though the hunter had been steadily working on marking the locations of monsters he had captured.

With an unfinished map in hand, Xisuma studied the marks he had drawn. Along with the footsteps in the mud, they all seemed to point to a spot deep within the forest. He rolled the map into a scroll and tucked it away, reaching for a silver pocket knife on his belt.

"Let's draw out the beasts, shall we?" He muttered to himself, drawing the blade and slitting his wrist to draw blood. Xisuma didn't even flinch, as if this were a normal occurrence he used to bring the monsters closer. He dabbed his gloved fingers in the red, staining a few nearby trees with his blood.

A rustle of leaves came from the direction the footprints led, causing the hunter to sink into the shadows and watch. Some human-like creature floated along, pale skin and pointed ears indicating a vampire. He hovered slightly above ground, his long white hair falling in his face.

The vampire sniffed along one of the trees that had been covered in a dash of blood, his forked tongue leaving his mouth to taste. "Blegh." He spat out almost immediately, "It's better straight from the source. Stupid tree is gonna give me splinters on my tongue..."

Before the vampire could float off, Xisuma took the chance to pounce. He leapt out from the shadows, knocking the vampire to the ground and pinning him against the grassy flooring of the woods.

"Hey—, ow! What th— o, you again?" The vampire muttered with a roll of his eyes, more annoyed than afraid.

"I'm not letting you get away this time." Xisuma spat with a cold hearted glare, though refusing to meet the vampire's hypnotic eyes. He reached for a wooden stake on his belt, placing the sharpened end on the beast's chest.

"I should have known it was you from that blood." The vampire spoke to himself, shaking his head. "So tempting. Much better than my slave's. Even I can't resist."

"Put another human under your little spell?" Xisuma asked tauntingly, pressing the stake further into the creature's skin.

"A man's gotta eat." He smirked.

"Well how about this: You tell me where the other monsters are located, and I'll give you a bit of blood in return. Or I can stake you right now and end your miserable existence." X spat, his grip tightening on the wooden stake.

The vampire began to laugh, bearing his fangs as the sound of his voice echoed through the forest. "Oh, you think I'm stupid?" He asked, raising an eyebrow with a smug grin. "I know your little king would pay a pretty nice chunk of gold for a vampire like me alive. You wouldn't kill me, even with how much you hate me."

His grip on the stake slightly began to waver, his hand shaking slightly before the hunter sighed. "Smarter than you look..." Xisuma grumbled, though he kept the stake to the vampire's chest. "Fine, I won't kill you. But I'm going to take you and all your little friends back to the king. Soon enough you beasts will be behind bars, where you belong."