Chapter Text
Guilt.
Pearl knew guilt, she'd grappled with it time and time again.
It had been hardest in the early days of her duty. Watching the life drain from the eyes of those she hunted had been a formative experience— the garbled cries, the pleading for mercy, it'd weaved a crimson robe of guilt deep into her soul.
She grew out of it as fast as she could.
After all— if you're willing to hurt without cause, to kill, you need to be ready for some comeuppance.
They'd earned their fate, those she'd killed.
Which is why facing Pyro after that terrible night, whomst for all she knew hadn't actually harmed anyone but her in self defense, was proving hard.
He had an air of pompousness to him as he spoke of the ascension, of how he knew now what a gift he had been granted after his brush with death!
The way he spoke and moved sent her hair on end, the voices of her parents whispering in her ear 'this, this is a danger.'
The scarring on his neck was stark to the rest of his sheet white skin. She still drew her sword and he still faltered back, but there was no chance she'd use it.
Not unless there was no other choice.
She could still taste his blood, coppery and disgusting.
When Avid lunged forward and knocked him off the tree, Pearl got the same feeling— a tug in the back of her mind honed from years of hunting that knew a future problem when it saw one.
The Doc— Legundo— had reprimanded him shortly before excusing himself, something about 'a conversation I need to have with someone.'
His voice had gone odd as he'd said it.
Anyway— he was still Pyro, even if she'd only known him a few weeks and spoken with him for half of that.
This was the person that she met at the very beginning, or the very end of her journey. The one who'd explored a crypt and happily spoke with her.
He was different now.
(She did appreciate the flower, even if it was given with.. questionable intentions.)
They'd joked again, and for a moment she could pretend that night hadn't really happened— that the vampirism was simply the more fantastical people getting too excited.
Then he'd stretch, and Pearl could see the claw marks on his arms.
Eventually it got late, the pale blue sky curdling to a dark red and as her, Cleo and Abolish were walking Pearl started to feel funny— an urge filled her bones, a smell in the air that completely ensnared her attention, and she turned a corner only to find herself alone in the woods.
The new moon was showing, and if it had a mouth it'd more than likely be laughing at her.
Quickly— What did she remember? Clearly something had happened, she muttered to herself, and fear started to sink in.
What if she'd hurt someone?
Without a second thought she started trying to pry whatever memories had fell through her fingers right back into her silly silly brain.
Hm….
Hmmm…..
Nope. Fat load of nothing, just an empty space where at least an hour should be. She'll ask Cleo, once she gets back to Oakhurst. Something about how easily she'd lost herself to.. that, had her vowing to hold onto her consciousness with an iron clad grip from now on.
Oh— Her clothes are still okay, so no transformations here. Silver linings, right?
Uh. Poor choice of words.
Where even is she??
"O-kay… I'm all on my own, and the nearest sign of anything isss…!" Pearl peered around, finding herself met with unending forest. "Hm."
No matter! She'll just continue what she was doing, maybe take a peek in a crypt. Just because nobody's here doesn't mean she can't have a nice nighttime stroll.
And stroll she did. She clambered up hills, talking perhaps a smidgen too loud as she went, took a quick dive into one of the ancient looking tombs (And found the same book Cleo had! Magic regenerating books, how brilliant.) and finally found herself face to face with the broken old bridge to the castle.
Well. This felt odd.
Peering a little closer, she ignored the claw grooves in the stone that still stood. It didn't look like anybody was there right now, hopefully they were all cooped up in that crypt and not hurting anybody. Perhaps it was time to go back to town? She was rather famished after all that walking.
She turned around, and took about five steps before noticing someone walking in her direction. Crap.
Instinct kicked in and Pearl practically dove for the treeline, halfway to grabbing her sword only to realize it was rather pointless as Pyro had spotted her already.
Annnd she had a bright lantern attached to her.
"You're a bit close to the castle."
There was a smile rife with curiosity creeping across his face as he looked at her— Pearl had a feeling she won't be able to take him on. Not like this, with no stake or inhuman strength to muster.
At best slow him down, but without the proper tools she would be hard done by to stop him.
She felt the sweat beading on her forehead as he got closer.
"I was just passing by, getting some food and stuff— don't mind me, I'm not doing anything."
"I'd be happy to share some food with you!" That look on his face never faltered as he held out some raw meat, offhandedly mentioning how it's the only food he can consume now, and a bottle of what was hopefully just animal blood.
"Pearl, I'm not going to harm you." He said, and almost seemed hurt— his tone light and incredulous as she backed away and he remained between the trees.
"We were buddies, friends in the tomb!"
She swallowed, and unthinkingly looked down at the marred flesh of his neck. "Well— yeah, but.. you haven't been telling me anything, y'know.." Guilt. She hadn't told him either, the slight incident of tearing his throat open. "As far as I'm concerned you might wanna kill me." And they.. probably should? They'd tried, she could still trace the faintest mark the axe left on her shoulder.
In an instant his face shifted, the easy smile warping into deep worry lines. "Well— I can't tell anybody anything, because— if he finds out—"
"Well, it's fine!" This was something she could work with! Pearl could keep a secret, she'd been hiding her inhuman-ness from herself for goodness sake. "I'm not gonna tell anybody, nobody's gonna hear you. It's okay."
"Are you sure." His entire body had tensed, and Pyro looked like he was ready to bolt at a moment's notice. "There's.. no real way to tell if anybody's listening."
She considered his words.
Whoever 'sired' Pyro had clearly left him feeling deeply unsafe, so Pearl took a moment to scan the land around them for any signs of spying.
Straining her head to the side she listened intently, picking apart every last sound until there was nothing she wasn't aware of. She could hear rustles of animals foraging around them, the faint whooshing of water flowing under the bridge, everything.
There was nothing human or vampire apart from them— whilst their vampiric hearts no longer beat all of them still breathed, be it muscle memory or a genuine requirement.
Huh. That might just come in handy now she thought about it.
"Ehh.. we're safe. Nobody's listening in, promise."
"You can't know that—" His voice was rising higher and higher in tone, that easy smugness from earlier today long dead and replaced by a bone deep fear. "You just can't. Vampire senses are better than humans."
"Pyro. There's a difference between enhanced senses, and trained ones." She held out a placating hand, giving her best most confident smile. "I sure wouldn't last long as a werewolf hunter if I couldn't hear things trying to stay hidden, could I?"
"Werewolf hunter?" Now he was looking at her with calculating eyes— a hand unconsciously rising to their throat. "You never said you've seen werewolves before."
He took a few steps closer, and Pearl could almost feel the desperation radiating off them. "I don't know if anybody's told you, but not long ago a werewolf attacked us. That's.. why my neck is so messed up." They took a breath, and anxiously raked a hand through their hair.
"If you're telling the truth— if sire isn't listening in.."
"He isn't! Whoever this 'sire' guy is, he won't know whatever it is you wanna say right now."
Pyro looked at her, really looked at her with such an expression that she couldn't help but wonder.
What the hell had happened to this guy?
"Okay. I'll.. I'll trust you." There was something indecipherable in his face as he said that. "Please don't make me regret it."
Pearl hoped she wouldn't.
~~~
With a small huff Pearl pushed the gate open, groaning and rubbing at her poor tired feet as she finally got back to Oakhurst. "Cleo?" she belted out, eagerly peering all around for any sign of her roommate. "You here?"
Silence.
Aaand, nobody's here. Big surprise. She grumbled a little about how everybody was far too busy lately, and decided to go look.
Her feet were achy and exhaustion had long since sunk into her bones, but it would be fine once she cooked up some food. What was a little bit more traveling?
Pearl bustled towards the house and pretty soon the incredible smell of cooking meat wafted in the air, more than enough to perk her back up.
It was a liiittle undercooked but she couldn't bring herself to wait any longer, bursting through the gate and now walking in the opposite direction she'd returned from.
Five minutes passed, and this would be easy. They'd be here somewhere!
Then ten, and still no sign of a single person.
Pearl found herself thinking about whatever'd happened to bring her towards the castle. It was new, and when it came to the supernatural new was never anything good. She didn't want to— but she would admit it to herself. She was concerned.
Werewolves were what she'd stood against her entire life, and thanks to a rather poor choice she'd become what she'd fought, what she'd killed.
Her mother and father had never said it, but she knew that she had failed them. One of the reasons she couldn't bear to stay, she guessed. One of the reasons she'd rather lock them in the estate and run off to hunt a werewolf that might already be dead.
Keeping track of time was long forgotten at this point, and she pushed it all from her mind. It'll be fine, she was human.
She is human!
(The taste of the concoction never really left her throat.)
…….
Okay— this was getting silly now.
The damn sun had nearly risen at this point, and still no sign of anybody! Pearl was tired, her feet hurt, and she had a bunch of stuff she needed to tell everyone.
So when she saw Cleo and Abolish running down the path towards Oakhurst, the first thing she did was was take in how they were both staring at her.
Abolish looked rushed, but curious. Like she was a walking question mark, and something had just made her even bigger.
Cleo looked rather stuck between wanting to murder or hug her.
And now they were calling and moving towards her, but she'd been walking alone for so long that she was kinda spaced out and probably looked like she was staring through them, what should she do—
The two finally got within a reasonable distance to Pearl and the first thing Cleo did was stomp on her foot hard enough to hurt, then snatch her by the collar and yank her down to their level. (That sure was a way to ground somebody, ow.)
"Where the hell were you, Pearl??" They hissed as quietly as possible, jerking their head back for a second to make sure Abolish wasn't listening. "We've been worried sick— you started acting really weird and darted off into the woods before we could even think to follow you! I tried covering but Abolish definitely knows something's up."
"I— uhh—" She flailed uselessly for a second, looking at them with wide eyes. This was bad. "I.. wanted to go see if there was a book back in one of the tombs! Sorry if you guys got worried, but I come bearing some pre-tty good news right now."
Abolish did not look convinced in the slightest, raising an eyebrow as she kept speaking. "Right. That's.. very believable, sure. Listen— we need to go check the town, you can explain when we've made sure nothing is up."
Pearl gave them her widest, toothiest smile and tried to hide the slowly growing worry in her chest. "You got it! Cleo, let's go!"
Cleo did not look like they want to release her.
She switched up the tactics, and shot them a pleading look. "..Please?"
They were still frowning, and there was a fatigue in the way that Cleo stood that left Pearl with another gnawing feeling, she put a hand on their shoulder and squeezed a little— something unspoken passing between their eyes as Cleo relented and let her go.
A single beat went by and the three ran back to Oakhurst— Pearl found herself rather relieved at the task to cling onto, chasing the bat around the sky and rather spectacularly failing all attempts to hit it.
She lost interest in the little chase fast, and the drop in her gut soon made itself known once more as she stopped and everyone went closer towards the center. She.. wasn't sure why, but something left her hesitating to enter the beacon tower.
That thought was quickly disregarded as they came back over, Cleo heaving out a sigh as they stood in awkward silence for a beat. Abolish was watching her intently, not uttering a word as Cleo broke the quiet.
"Right.. what did you learn?"
"Okay, after I.. went looking for a tomb, I ran into Pyro.."
…….
"So… Scott's your 'sire', he's at least six hundred years old, and the way he turned you was so bad you can't even remember it?" Pearl was reeling at what she'd heard, her every sense going dead still as she processed what Pyro was saying.
"Well, when you say it like that.. Listen— it's been a hard couple weeks, Pearl. Sire is probably starting to wonder where I am, and I don't really want to worry Shelby. She's been acting off since.. the wolf, I think it's brought up some bad memories."
They wrung their hands together, pacing back and forth clearly full of nervous energy after everything he'd said. "Maybe knowing a werewolf hunter is hanging around will make her feel better."
The words were simple enough, but as he said them Pearl felt like a dozen weights had been tied to her chest, pinning her in place. Shelby hasn't told them. Why?
She shrugged them off, as she always did.
There was no other option.
"Hopefully. Uh, stay safe, Pyro!" She said. don't do anything you'll regret, that other part of her whispered. "Don't kill anyone, or I'll have to kill you."
They still had that look, a quiet planning thing that put her on edge. "Hm. Enjoy the night, Pearl."
And with a nod he continued his journey, leaving Pearl once again on her own.
"Holy crap." She wasn't sure what to do. So much was happening, so many problems without clear solutions. Pearl hated feeling like this, hated being so utterly out of her depth.
It brought her to desperate places.
(The room had been dark when she'd asked them. Most of the windows were sealed shut these days, out of fear those outside might see something they shouldn't.
It had felt like such a good idea at the time, but maybe that's because she'd run out of any others.
They had both agreed. Maybe they were just as desperate as her.)
The sky was dark, covering the world around her in crimson. It felt right, like a brighter view would be a disgrace to what had happened in these lands.
She heaved out a breath, and turned to look at the direction Pyro had gone.
Pearl had come to Oakhurst because she couldn't bear home anymore. She hadn't managed to protect those closest to her, and here might be a chance she could've found the one responsible.
A wind caressed her, leading back to the town.
This time would be different.
She'd do whatever it takes.
…….
"Okay, this is actually pretty useful information." Cleo didn't look half as frustrated now, idly picking at a loose string in their dress as they said "We've been wondering who the head honcho might be since.."
They hesitated for a moment, looking at her before speaking again. "Since the night at the castle. Shelby definitely wasn't a vampire when she arrived here, and by the sounds of it Pyro wasn't either."
Abolish hums in agreement. "Right, a six hundred year old vampire lord is a pretty good suspect. We should gather the others, let them know—
"That brings me to the next thing." Pearl starts, looking between the two for a second. "We should totally, one hundred percent tell everybody all of this! But we can't let any of the vampires know— Especially not Scott, Pyro was terrified the guy was listening in."
An uncomfortable feeling twinged in her gut. "I.. wasn't really suppose to tell anybody."
"You did what you thought was best. Not great you broke whatever promise you made him, but we've got a better understanding of the hierarchy now. Once we figure the cure we can help him." Abolish's words were blunt but true, and Pearl found her appreciation for the guy rising.
Cleo looked as though they wanted to say something, but a couple town members started shouting and the sudden burning building soon had them running over to assess the situation.
"Eh, I guess you're right. I'm gonna go see what they're bickering over, comin'?" With her thumb she pointed in the direction of the shouting, ears burning at the snippets of argument she'd gathered so far.
"Afraid not, there's something I wanna check first." Abolish gave her a sharp nod and without another word went in the direction of the town's crypt.
Huh. Interesting guy.
"—Shelby doesn't wanna come home." Avid's particularly downcast, and Pearl found herself getting closer and listening in. There are a variety of devastated reactions from Drift and Apo, but Pearl only felt a pit in her stomach. Maybe it wasn't because of her?
"She says she loves being a vampire, and it's great, and I'm— y'know what? If being a vampire is so great that sounds like it's just gonna happen to all of us and who even cares." Wow that guy needs a hug. Or a week's sleep. Maybe both.
A larger number of people deny his defeated claims— Drift in particular trying her hardest. "Don't forget you're brave, you're courageous! Don't forget that!"
"Yeah—" Pearl was honestly surprised she'd started speaking, but what harm could it do? "I've been a bit of a stinker to you, but staying and trying to help people when they don't believe what you're saying and mock you is pretty brave! Don't sell yourself short, Avid."
The rather pathetic droop in his face started to fade and Avid took a deep breath, wincing a little at the burning wreck that was once a house.
He looked just about to say something when Abolish suddenly popped out of the crypt and gestured to an old looking book— explaining how he'd found it in a chest down there, and that it was the first part of the cure.
That grabbed attention, near everyone in the town silent and listening with bated breath as Legs' read it out, brow low and eyes hopeful as it spoke of holy water being part one of the steps to salvation.
Holy water. That was something she could focus on, a clear cut goal. There weren't many nowadays.
"We need to keep— Guys!" Cleo's voice cut through the cacophony of voices, sharp and clear. "Stop talking, now. They can turn invisible." Pearl cocked her head to the side but found the agreement from Abolish along with every other sound that curled through Oakhurst was muddling up any chances of checking around for vampires.
"I want them to know." The Doc was looking at Cleo, green eye boring into green. Cleo let out a frustrated noise, but Pearl frowned.
"I don't think.. some of them will want the others to know."
"Not all of them, but some of them—"
"And they will turn you to stop this from happening. Some of them."
"Pyro wants to turn back." Legundo and Pearl muttered at the same time, and something uncomfy crossed Cleo's face.
"But Doc if you get turned," Avid spoke up— something resembling confidence rearing its head. "If you get turned, you won't be able to use any of those tomes, or any of that holy knowledge."
Legs' just frowned and chucked the book to him, giving Pearl something of a grateful look before turning back to Avid.
"I'm not here to keep secrets. I'm here to help."
And then he walked off.
Abolish and Avid started muttering over the books— whilst Pearl cleared her throat in an attempt to grab attention, satisfied enough when Cleo, Apo and Ren focused on her.
"I think he's right," She admitted. "Listen— I'm so outta my league here and it's kiinda frustratin', but I don't think we should hide this stuff because of what might happen. Most of the vampires are probably still just people, even if they're a little bit.. toothier! I wanna do what I can for 'em."
Apo was staring at her with such a hopeful expression that it caught Pearl off guard whereas Ren looked downright concerned, saying something about how 'trying such a thing with those dark creatures will end poorly, don'tchaknow.'
"I'm here to help." Pearl found herself caught off guard as the Doc marched back over, another book in hand that he swiftly shoved in Avid's hands. "It's a book, it's a book, Avid."
Everybody craned their necks to get a closer look, a cacophony of questions and small conversations that practically welded together as Pearl thought over how Apo had looked at her. She found herself rather wishing the hyper-enhanced sense of smell had remained after her transformation, it'd been easy as cake to sniff out the vampire..ness of the others.
"I'm here to heal."
"You're here to heal," Cleo echoed.
Ren started about how Cleo should be the one to consume the cure books, which was quickly shot down at the fact these ones could not be consumed for they were mere instructions, not the power to fix this.
"Listen— all of us should know, all of us should read them because I'm worried some vampires will want to stop it. There.. there are some there that will."
"Some will!" The Doc looked frustrated for reasons Pearl couldn't quite grasp, but not at Cleo. "Fine, let them try. But if some won't, and if some want to fix themselves of this.. hunger, cure themselves, rid themselves of that. Then.. let's help them. And let them help us, the ones who will."
"Of course!" Drift exclaimed, whilst Cleo held their tongue. Perhaps if they'd let their emotions run a little wilder whatever was cut back may have been said, but they kept a cool head for now.
Avid looked a little less convinced. "I don't know.. I mean, I thought Shelby would be the first one rushing to come home, I— I offered her all of our animals—"
"But what did we offer Shelby?" Cleo's voice had a sharpness to it.
"I said we could give her a nice safe space, and— we would welcome her with open arms and she, just—"
"And we went to kill her. We went to kill her!" There was no hiding the displeasure in their eyes.
"I wouldn't have.. I wouldn't.."
"AVID." Now it was sharp and angry, a storm barely reined in. They stomped over to him and furiously pointed at his face. "Don't give me that! You were the first person— you attacked Pyro, when he was just standing there. Do not tell us you wouldn't hurt her. Shelby is scared, a werewolf attacked the people I'll bet she trusts most right now and YOU just burnt her home here to ash."
"Werewolf..?"
He didn't say anything else, but Pearl didn't like the change in Avid's demeanor when they mentioned werewolves.
"I'm calm, I'm calm."
Pearl scuttled over and put a hand on their back, trying her best to soothe them. The last thing she wanted was for Cleo to worry over something that was.. kinda her fault.
"We need to keep it together— keep it together, guys!" Drift seemed hopeful, if nervous. She had a feeling the potential of a cure was quite the beacon of it for everybody here.
M cleared his throat a little, looking over the circle for a moment before asking,
"So cure over death. That's what we're thinking, guys?"
There was a large chorus of yes's, Pearl included, and she felt her own glimmer of hope. Maybe this'd turn out okay! Maybe everybody will get their happily ever after, whatever that might look like.
"Okay— question, what do we do in the event one of them does attack us, though.." And there were Drift's nerves, bubbling back over the hope for just a moment.
"We stop 'em!" Pearl grinned and gestured to her sword, trying to ignore the feeling in her gut at the idea of hurting Pyro or Shelby.
It wouldn't come to that, anyway! As long as they didn't hurt anybody.
Owen and Scott, however.. Pearl didn't have any qualms over killing them, not now.
A particular burning in her back as she put the sword into the scabbard, a memory of the fear in Pyro's eye, that reminded her why.
But no point dwelling on it!
Cleo huffed with a weak amusement, but their eyes hardened as they spoke. "We need to make sure that this information is with everybody. Everyone needs to know, because if— if just the Doc has this information, then.."
"I'm too great a target," He finished.
"Yeah."
"And— if holy water is one of the ingredients, we need to make a whole bunch." For the first time since this had began, Pearl felt like Avid was making sense.
"We need to make a bunch, in two different stockpiles," Cleo added on. She had a feeling they were thinking the same thing as her, despite that small explosion at him moments ago. "Two— or three different stockpiles, you can only do it singularly, so we need to have it buried where they cannot find it till we're ready."
"Well—" Abolish spoke up, "I mean, you keep it in someone's house, unless someone gets invited.. that's the only way they— a vampire— can get in the stockpile anyways."
"Or, their roommate gets turned."
Everybody looked unnerved at the very idea, and Pearl couldn't help but glance at Cleo.
She wasn't quite sure why.
Avid cleared his throat— driving her attention from that, as he started reading the book the Doc had given him.
"Blood calls to blood." Pearl repressed a shudder, she's rather done with blood at this point. "The vampiric curse endures whilst the sire lives. Only through the maker's true death can the progeny find release?"
Everybody was very, very quiet for a moment.
The sire has to die for the vampire to be cured.
"The sire, that's what.. Pyro was calling.."
"Scott."
Scott. Scott Goldsmith.
"We need to kill him." Cleo said, pulling the words from Pearl's mouth without even realising.
"The main vampire," M added, looking around. "We need to kill the main vampire!"
Drift frowned. "..Is that Scott, then?"
Abolish looked thoughtful, sparing a glance at Pearl for just a beat— and she could see something calculating behind his eyes at her expression. "Well.. possibly, but we don't really.. know."
"Look— I'm gonna tell you guys, that's why I came here."
Cleo's words caught her off guard. What on earth did they mean by that?
"To kill the prime vampire."
"What??" Pearl couldn't hold her tongue anymore, gawking at them with jaw dropped and wide eyed shock.
Her reaction seemed.. the popular one, every last person in the circle blundering out surprise at their statement.
"I mean— the plague was real," They were far too calm for such a giant reveal, openly shrugging as they continued.
"Aha! The plague was vampires, wasn't it. ("Yeah, it was!" Drift cried.)" M broke into a wide smile, already reaching for his notebook with whatever ideas and inspiration this would be giving him.
"No— well, I mean it is a plague, but it wasn't the plague. There were two. Look— you can have plague and vampires at the same place."
There were a few half hearted agreements, but Pearl was far too caught up in her surprise to add to it.
Was this the thing they'd wanted to tell her? That their goals were far more supernatural-y inclined than let on, hidden behind skepticism?
She wasn't a fan of how close to home that was.
"Look— Apo, here." The Doc started handing those mystical cure books out, and Apo took them with shaky hands.
"I mean—" Cleo spoke up again, "Who do we think were already here? Who's the oldest?"
"Scott," Pearl started— before freezing, the promise to Pyro once again sending a sick dropping through her body at the single word she'd uttered.
"Well— Owen said two hundred years ago he was here for this.. massacre, so."
Ren looked over at Cleo, his expression hard. "Owen has killed over two thousand humans, that's a long time to kill…"
Avid, Cleo and the Doc spoke up, bringing up a rather important fact— Oakhurst was old. Very old, if the ruins they'd all come across were anything to go off.
Hundreds of years of history, none of which they had any access too. It'd be impossible to find a single record of the two most likely suspects.
That'd be rather annoying.
"Wait— a minute," Sausage had a funny look as he turned to face Pearl. "Pearl, have you seen.. any vampires yet? At all?"
"Yes!!" She let out a disbelieving sound, looking around at the group. Most of them had been there when they had come across Pyro, but— looking at some of the others, who were pleasantly surprised— she supposed that not all of them had been there.
(Not to mention her little.. full moon adventure.)
To near everyone in Oakhurst, she'd been the only one yet to face the supernatural.
Not for the first time, Apo drew Pearl's attention— still looking at her with withdrawn hope, and in that moment she made a decision.
"Hey— Apo?" Pearl slid over to Apo, their posture stiff— though, she mused, that could just be due to her whole military thing. She honestly hadn't gotten to know them all that well.
"Uh.. yes, Pearl?"
"Could we have a word outside?"