In Plain Sight

Weiss had made sure Ruby made it home and left her with Velvet before promising to return. She’d made excuses about this being connected to her case and promised to explain and asked Velvet to watch over her. 

Velvet being the absurdly loyal girl that she was, had asked who would take care of Weiss and Ruby had echoed the sentiment. 

Weiss had decided then and there that she’d tell at least Velvet, but probably Ruby, all about herself soon. 

Especially if things continued to escalate the way they were. 

She needed to call Winter, but she wasn’t answering her phone so for now she assumed she was on her own hunt and went back to her apartment she was renting and took out one of her mother’s journals. 

As she feared vampires having blood from their family was exceptionally bad. Vampires were already strong enough but drinking the blood of a hunter made them far stronger than normal much as Weiss’s family were far stronger than normal untrained humans. 

Not to mention it would give the monster a small inkling of where she was and allow it to evade or set a trap for her at least for a short time. 

It would however take some time for it to form so right now would be her best window for attempting to catch the parasite that had taken her blood and hurt Ruby. 

In hindsight leaving her blood around, or even giving it in the first place was idiotic. She could have just stolen it back if she’d had to give it in the first place. 

If this relationship even had a chance of working she’d need to be honest with one, or both of them and explain things. 

They could help cover for her, and having a doctor in the know aside from Ren who wasn’t always available would be phenomenal.

For now though she needed to get back to Ruby’s and then she’d go on a hunt later when they were both asleep. 

While going right this second was better the other two would be waiting for her and might worry and inform the authorities if she were sufficiently delayed. 

The last thing she needed was interference regardless of it being well meaning or not. 

After eating the leftovers Yang, or rather Pyrrha had dropped off, they spent a small bit of time watching some movie she couldn’t recall before Ruby had made them or asked if they’d play games with her. 

Weiss hadn’t been much for wastes of time like that as there was always some sort of training she could be doing, but Velvet had gotten very into them and even Weiss had eventually consented and had fun playing a bit. 

“Are you going to tell your sister about the break in?” Weiss asked as they got ready to turn in, or rather Ruby would be heading to her bed, and she and Velvet would take a futon and pullout couch. 

“I mean nothing really happened, but probably tomorrow. I don’t want to ruin her night, and really I wasn’t even hurt, but I know if she knew she’d insist on staying here to watch over me,” Ruby explained as she went into her bedroom although she left the door open a crack in case they needed her. 

“Older sisters are like that I suppose,” Weiss reminisced fondly on the various times she’d fallen asleep injured after Ren and Nora had patched her up only to find food made for her from her sister, or if she woke early enough her sister herself watching over her. 

“You never mentioned her much in school,” Velvet commented as Weiss blinked. 

“I suppose not. She was always busy but she made as much time for me as she could. Perhaps I can introduce you both properly one day,” Weiss said as she settled down. 

“Kinda like our old sleepovers huh?” Velvet asked before she added. “I mean the ones at my house cause your dad wouldn’t let me ‘sully’ his place,” Velvet said with a bit of heat. 

“I should have stood up to him sooner. You didn’t deserve that. Still though, these beat our old sleepover in one very important way,” Weiss said as she cut her eyes to the bedroom door. 

Velvet giggled and nodded as she too settled down although she seemed a bit more hyper than usual. Although her faint memories of childhood sleepovers recalled that Velvet was sometimes just pleased to spend time with others and this wasn’t that out of the ordinary. 

Weiss waited until she heard both sets of breathing slow down and enter deep sleep before she tiptoed to the balcony and slid open the door. Her backpack was exactly where she’d left it so she quickly threw on something more substantial than the shorts, and t-shirt she’d worn to bed. 

Most might think she’d have some sort of trench coat or fantastical outfit, but the truth was vampires were strong, fast, and most of them were not stupid. She’d clearly stand out in such an outfit although she did make a concession to her finger-less gloves. 

The idea was to do her best to blend in until she could get close enough to strike and hopefully end it in one blow or shot. 

That’s not to say she didn’t have more heavy duty outfits for when her prey was cornered somewhere, refused to budge, and she had to go in after them. 

It was always sewers too. Why couldn’t they pick anything else to hide in? It’s like they knew they were going to die and wanted to ruin whatever clothes she was wearing out of spite. 

At least for now that wasn’t the case. The night was young , and the moon was nice and full so she had plenty of options. 

Thankfully Ruby’s apartment was only on the second floor so it was a quick descent. Granted she could take a longer fall with little issue but in the age of cell phones, and cameras it was best to draw as little attention as possible and humans by and large could easily do what she’d done so it would draw little attention even if she were caught. 

She quickly melded into the throngs of people still milling about on the sidewalk. 

Vale was an excellent choice for any would-be monster to live, and not even just vampires. The City never slept. There was always something going on, or some event or night life for those interested to pursue. 

Plenty of victims to choose from and many more places to hide or lay low. 

She needed to do her best to expand her skill set and mind. She was far too limited. Her family specialized in hunting vampires, but there were still far too many holes in her knowledge. 

And a lack of knowledge could be deadly in her profession. 

Thankfully she had a few small ideas and leads to follow for this particular prey. The last thing she wanted to do was to have to barter with the Fae for anything. She tried to understand them, truly she did, but her mind preferred logic at least to some degree. 

She could break down and understand vampirism, or even were-creatures, but actual magic eluded her. She’d made some progress trying to explain it away as advanced physics but even still it was difficult for her to truly grasp. 

The Fae were far worse because everything and nothing about them made sense. To the point that she might as well guess as to how each one would react. 

Thankfully Fae were few in number, or at least had so little interest in humans that they left them alone by and large. 

Winter had confided in her that she felt the same way. The lack of order and logic was galling for either of them to deal with. 

She made sure her silver bullets were loaded into her handgun, and holy water was inside her coat ready in case she needed them. 

Thankfully she could get away with wearing a silver cross necklace openly. Many wore them for worship or to be trendy so if any vampire tried to get handsy a lovely burn was all that would await them and give her a chance to finish them. 

Truthfully silver bullets only harmed a vampire, and didn’t kill them, but shooting them, which could paralyze them once enough silver was absorbed by their bodies and then leaving the bodies on a roof so the sun would take care of the situation was much simpler. 

Easier to clean up, and no bodies meant much less to worry about evidence wise. 

She did still to make sure to watch from a nearby location to ensure the sun got them. The last thing she needed was a vampire out for revenge. 

With any luck she’d remove this one from the immediate area and it would no longer threaten either of the women back at the apartment anymore. 

She picked up the things trail about a block from the blood bank, a single spec of blood on the sidewalk. Normally not worth noticing but her instincts were telling her this was what she was looking for. 

Thankfully they appeared to be a sloppy eater because she only lost the trail once at a busy intersection when she couldn’t follow the path across the road it had taken. 

Of course the trail had ended up back at Dusk til Dawn. 

It was the most popular club in this section of town, and easier to blend in. Plus if she was correct then there was already some correlation.

She bit her lip and considered venturing inside. If there ended up being more than one parasite she’d retreat and come back with Winter. 

It would gall her to leave any of the monsters alive but it would be safer and there would be a far lower chance of any of them escaping. 

Perhaps it would behoove her to see if she could slip up to the roof and see through the skylight. 

That would be the safer route. That thought in mind she wandered behind the building as casually as she could and when she was sure there wasn’t anyone following her she quickly scaled the fire escape to the roof.

Thankfully there didn’t appear to be anyone else up here. She’d half worried there would be groups of club goers up here looking for privacy for a myriad number of reasons. 

She made her way to the door to the roof and found it opened without issue. She took a few wads of bandage gauze and shoved it into the door jamb. She then grabbed the multitool in her pocket and gently tapped the top pin out of place and put it into her pocket before she pressed it closed.

That would stop a random club goer from opening the door, and if a vampire broke through she’d be aware of it. 

She peered through the windows as best she could. Mostly she just saw the expected party goers. 

One section didn’t have any windows she could peer through which she assumed was the owner's office. 

She found a few different targets who her instincts were telling her were vampires or had been in prolonged contact with one. 

She took a few shots with her cell phone even if they weren’t great at this distance. Any little bit would help when she needed to track them down, preferably separately. 

The light from the moon told her she needed to hurry and get back. 

She stowed her camera and frowned. She detested leaving any of them alive for another night, but she couldn’t think of any realistic way to get them alone without attracting attention from the others. 

Not to mention that she’d figured the vampire to be a solitary one who blended in well and this was clearly not what was happening. No need to keep to an old plan and get overwhelmed. She’d need to regroup and speak with Winter. 

She turned to leave and leapt to a nearby building. The slight sound of metal creaking and displaced air was the only warning she received as she managed to duck and roll on instinct letting the swing pass harmlessly over her head as she stayed low in a crouch as the vampire managed to stop itself and face her. 

She blinked. She recognized him from school. His features were slightly different but that was Dove certainly. One of the bullies who’d tormented Velvet in school for years. 

Which meant…

“Surprised you’re after me by yourself. I wasn’t aware you could do anything without Cardin’s say so,” Weiss mocked the man turned monster who sneered at her. 

“Always thought you were high and mighty protecting that girl . Well now we’re in the real world, Schnee, and it’s time I reminded you of your place in it,” Dove said, as he smirked.

Weiss took out her gun and took aim as he snorted at her. 

“You can have a free shot,” Dove offered with open arms, clearly thinking himself invincible. He must not have been one for long then if he didn’t know of her family and was offering to let her shoot him. 

Well whatever. The free kill would let her rid the world of another monster. She said a brief prayer for the person he used to be before she took aim and fired.

Something in her expression must have made him second guess himself because at the last second he brought up his hand to swat the bullet away and instead yelped as it pierced his skin and began poisoning him. 

“You bitch! What did you do to me?” Dove demanded as he tried to dig into his wound and remove the bullet only to hiss as his fingers found silver. To his credit he did manage to pull the bullet out although the silver was already doing its work. 

Weiss mentally calculated the police response time in her head if someone had heard the shot. She had less than a quarter hour to vacate the premises and deal with the monster. Less if she wanted to be sure of things.

She fired another shot bringing her down to fifteen. It was not meant to be however as an air conditioning unit of all things intercepted her bullet. 

“You idiot. I told you to wait,” came a hated voice Weiss hadn’t heard for years. 

“Cardin. I should have known. You robbed the blood bank too, didn’t you?” Weiss asked, although she really didn’t need to. 

His arrogant smirk said enough...but hadn't Ruby said the thief had blond hair?

“You bet. You were always a bitch but I’ll give you credit. The blood is primo. Best I’ve ever had. Shame I didn’t get to drain that bitch doctor, but orders are orders, and I had to get out of there,” Cardin shrugged and casually stepped to the side to avoid her next shot in retaliation. 

“Oh moved on from the animal did you? Don’t worry I’ll make sure to keep you just alive enough to watch me drain her in front of you,” Cardin said cruelly. 

“You’re going to need more than the two of you to take me down,” Weiss said cockily, hoping her confidence would make him reassess the situation. 

Sadly however he snapped his fingers, and his other two lackeys from school revealed themselves. 

This…wasn’t great. 

“Now, boys, the one who brings her down gets the first drink. Remember the boss needs her alive though so don’t get too careless,” Cardin said as he waved them forward like he was some mob boss in an action movie. 

Still this could only be to her advantage. Dove was injured, and the other two likely weren’t anymore skilled than he was. At least she hoped not. 

She tensed her body and took a mental overview of her weapons. She only had two of them with her, but her vials of holy water were her best bet here as the three closed in on her. 

She jumped backward, careful not to overshoot the edge and smashed her vial of holy water where she’d just been standing causing the liquid to explode and cover the three monsters. 

She took great pride in their hisses of pain as the water burned where it made contact. 

Still that would hardly be enough so she used the few precious seconds of time to uncork the second and drip it onto her neck, and the back of her knuckles and exposed fingers. 

It wouldn’t last all that long but it would help protect her most vulnerable area while she went toe to toe with the ‘apex’ predator at least for a short time. 

Still no reason to waste her range advantage so she fired two more shots at the vampire trio. Disappointingly neither managed to hit as they threw themselves away. 

Russel was on her in a moment so she brought up her fist and smashed it into his face. She took great pleasure in the way his eyes widened as she sent him tumbling even as she winced as pain blossomed in her hand. 

Despite everything, her training, and advantages punching vampires still felt comparable to hitting a wall, albeit one that moved when she hit it. Although without the holy water coating the back of her hand it wouldn’t have even done that.  

Thankfully she knew it wouldn’t break her hands and she’d be back at full strength soon, but it was still unpleasant. 

Dove screeched as he tried to grab her neck from behind and yanked his hands away as they began to smoke. She used the chance to put another silver bullet into his gut and added a kick to his family jewels and mentally tallied how few she had left as he teetered a few steps away. 

She was grabbed from behind by her shoulder and her weapon ripped out of her hand as Cardin tossed her back into the center of the roof now basically weaponless as the two vampires with minor injuries pinned her in from either side.

She couldn’t even run away now. 

“Silver bullets. Nice. I’ll definitely be keeping this,” Cardin mused. “Well it’s been fun and you did a good job but it’s time we wrapped this up.”

Before he could move a blur of fur barreled into him as the gun went skidding across the ground toward Weiss who wasted no time snatching it up.   

“Get off me YOU FREAK!” Cardin screamed as his fellow vampires looked terrified at whatever it was that was mauling Cardin. 

Weiss’s first instinct was to say werewolf, but why would one live in the city? They generally preferred to live in the countryside and away from people. 

Still any assistance was appreciated even if she had no desire to fight such a monster. If that’s what it even was. 

It was…surprisingly small if it was a werewolf. It was actually even smaller than Cardin although she couldn’t tell for certain but it was at least larger than Weiss herself was. 

She saw the vampires rush past her in an attempt to help their boss but it barely paused as it knocked them away. 

“Mine! Ours! ” The creature roared as it batted them to the side. 

Cardin used the brief moment of distraction to lash out with both feet and kick its midsection forcing it a few steps backward. 

Not much but enough that he was able to leap off the roof with his lackeys following him immediately afterward leaving Weiss on the roof alone with the monster. 

It turned and Weiss gasped as she had a chance to see the front of it. The face strangely enough remained mostly clear of fur but despite being covered in a layer of fur elsewhere and having two rabbit ears sticking out of her head there was no mistake about it. 

“Velvet?”