Chapter Text
“Here, through here. We should be safe.”
As a young woman shoved open the door, she covered her mouth against the plume of dust that rose into the air. She quickly returned to her companion, slinging his arm around her shoulders. The duo hobbled inside.
“M-miss, please, you don’t need to-“ he began to protest.
“No no, you’ve already done so much for me, a complete stranger. I must return the favor.”
The man watched restlessly from the sidelines as she barricaded the door with punching bags, weights, benches, and other heavy things she could find. It seemed they stumbled upon an abandoned boxing gym. In the center, dust and cobwebs hung off a caved-in fighting ring. Weathered dummies stood sentry below industrial-sized windows, where the sky was quickly undergoing its metamorphosis from pink and orange to a deadly, silent black. But they were safe here. They had to be.
“Just leave me miss, please-” the man began to beg, but Ada cut him off with a sharp tone.
“No. We’ve come too far to quit now.”
He remained silent thereafter, even as she treated his wounds with a first aid box she found. Seems he quickly learned his place , she thought dryly, though it was more to amuse herself than anything else. They both had been on a long journey, and they were tired. It would have been smoother , she thought bitterly, if only -
“It’s not your fault.”
She startled and glared at the man. “Pardon?”
He flinched. “It’s… not your fault, what happened…”
She smoothed her features and went back to work, treating herself now. “If I hadn’t been so reckless, you would still be able to walk.”
“Miss, you s-“
“Please, stop with the miss. My name is Ada.”
“Miss Ada , you saved me.”
Ada sighed. Miss Ada… It’ll have to do for now .
Night had come, and they retreated deep under the bleachers to hide from the moonlight. Ada made the man a bed of yoga mats, boxing gloves, and old towels. She checked the makeshift splint on his ankle, strengthened what she could, then sat against the wall with a sigh. Through the slits between the steps, she watched the moon swallow the sky. She fiddled with the whistle around her neck.
After what felt like ages, she finally spoke.
“Ten hours,” she whispered. “Ten hours, then the Fireflies will come with the rising sun.”
“The… Fireflies?”
“Yes, the Fireflies. Do you not know…?” And when he shook his head, she pursed her lips in puzzlement.
“I’ve been… asleep, for a while,” he explained sheepishly.
Ada flashed briefly to her first impression of him: glazed eyes among shattered glass, a body so limp and wrapped in bandages she nearly passed it for a corpse.
The bandages…
She managed to change most of them, but the ones around his neck were still there…
She reached out, but he flinched and shied away.
“Y-you don’t, need to see those,” he whispered, voice so taut that something twisted in her chest.
“…Sorry. Anyways, the Fireflies, humanity’s last bastion against the monsters. They sent me to find you, and I sent a distress call so they can find us. They’ll rescue us come dawn.”
“And… you trust these Fireflies?”
“With my life ,” Ada whispered. “They saved mine and my father’s. There are no other humans left.”
“But-“
A trembling voice interrupted him.
“H-h-hello?”
It sounded like a girl.
And it sounded like it was outside.
“I-is someone in there? Please! I need to get inside!”
Ada and the man exchanged glances. Hers tense, his… pleading.
No , Ada mouthed, but he shook his head.
“It’s a trick,” she whispered. “A dwindling wisp, trying to lure us out. There’s no way a human could survive out at night for this long.”
“Th-they’re gonna find me! Please!” the voice cried out. The door knob jingled, violently.
“She is not a monster!” the man whisper-yelled.
“How would you know?” Ada snapped.
“I-I just do, trust me, please!”
“You’ve been asleep for so long! You know nothing about this world!”
“H-hello?!” the voice yelped.
Despite the pain crumpling his face, the man hefted himself to his elbows and began to crawl to the door. Ada snatched his arm.
“Absolutely not!” she hissed.
“No!” he shouted.
“ Sir! ” the voice wept. “Help me!”
“I will!” he cried. “I w-“
Ada clamped a hand over his mouth just as a scream ripped through the night air.
Something slammed into the door. Hard.
“No!” the man wailed through her hand.
Whimpering and babbling came from the other side of the door. Ada grit her teeth and held the man close even as her own stomach started to churn. A wisp could be this powerful, this convincing, of course it could. It could make its desperation sound so real as it pled please, please, please don’t hurt me and I’ll do anything, just let me g-
The voice cut off with a sharp gasp. A thin, winding whine trailed out like a dying fly. Something dragged down the door, then finally hit the floor.
Silence.
Wet tickled Ada’s hand. The man was crying. Silent tears rolled from his eyes.
The door groaned from one impact, then another, until it burst open with a flash of red, scattering the barricade across the room. Ada and the man flinched when a barbell dented the metal right above them.
A figure stepped from the doorway and into the moonlight. Ada gasped.
The figure was clad in a red and black outfit fit for a prince, a dying prince. A ghost-like air clung to him, leaving wispy afterimages when he moved. A swarm of strange white insects amassed on his shoulder, silver vines crawled over his skin, and long, bone-white hair curled over his forehead. But strangest of all was his eyes. One was entirely silver with a ruby slit for a pupil. In the other, glowing insects writhed in the socket.
“The Man in Red,” Ada whispered.
“Search this place,” Red ordered as vampires flooded into the room. “Find him.”
Pop culture got a few things right about vampires.
First, the eyes. Always red in some way, whether it be iris, pupil, sclera, or a combination. The brighter it was, the more powerful the vampire. Red’s eye blazed like an inferno among embers.
Second, the skin. Pale tones became sickly white, whereas darker tones deepened with hues of indigo and violet. Variations of either indicated rarity. Red’s skin was pearlescent, shimmering baby blue and cream in the moonlight. The effect was ethereal. Otherworldly. Alien.
And, of course, the lust for blood.
“What should we do with this, Master?” a subordinate asked from the doorway. They tossed a crumpled corpse into the light: the girl, whiter than paper. Exsanguinated. Her skin clung to her bones, and she was curled into a fetal position.
Red licked his fangs, savoring the surprise meal. “Take it back. Valden desires more blue.”
The subordinate smirked softly, murmuring something about “Master’s pet.” The corpse was dragged away.
More wet tickled Ada’s hand. She petted the man’s hair, shame burning in her cheeks.
The lesser vampires scoured the room as the duo clung to each other. Equipment was tossed aside, doors ripped off their hinges, even the fighting ring was torn open. As the moon sank, the vampires became increasingly frustrated. One came so close Ada could see the blue veins in their hand, but, miraculously, they clomped up the steps and didn’t find anything. Ada stifled a sigh of relief and looked down at her companion. She tried to move her hand away from his mouth, but he held onto it, brow furrowed and eyes squeezed shut.
In the end, the vampires turned the room into a wasteland.
“Master,” one of the subordinates said as they knelt and bowed their head before Red. “We did not find a- HRRK!”
Red grabbed their neck and lifted them off the floor.
“That thing was talking to someone!” Red snarled. “Are you stupid enough to believe they vanished into thin air like a wisp?”
“N-no-“ they wheezed, clawing furtively at Red’s fist. Red let go. They hit the floor with a grunt and scrambled into the vampires now lined up by the window, standing still as rocks.
“Useless,” Red growled. “I should feed you all to the Sun.” He steeled himself, licking his fangs. “I believe this is your cue then… my friend.”
Red held out a hand to the doorway. A gloved hand reached through the darkness to meet it.
Into the moonlight stepped a lithe man clad in star-white and gold. A cloak and blindfold gilded with moons and constellations enshrouded him almost entirely in mystery, but the lower half of his face was visible. His pale lips were parted slightly, subtle clicks coming from them as the half-blind owl perched on his shoulder watched solemnly.
He was a Seer.
The Seer’s head turned to survey the room. He reached the bleachers and stopped. Ada’s companion stiffened in her arms. Ada’s skin crawled. The air was charged with wrongness . The Seer had crescent moons where eyes should have been, yet his gaze pierced what everyone else missed.
A pause. A hesitation. Then he moved on.
Ada let herself release the tiniest breath.
“…Eli?” Red said when the Seer finished and dipped his head. His voice sounded disappointed, strange. Ada realized it was a tad soft. “Did you…?”
The Seer shook his head.
“But your Gift-“
“Is as strong as the Full Moon shines,” murmured the Seer. His voice was gravelly. Seldom used. “There is only us in this space.”
Ada should have felt relieved. But the conflict in Red’s eye as he stared at the bowed hood made her antsy. After what felt like eternity, Red closed his eye. “Very well. We shall continue the Hunt until dawn.”
Ada and her companion sagged in relief.
“Set charges all around the perimeter,” Red growled as the rage returned to his voice. His fangs glinted white in the moonlight. “I want the building razed in five minutes, or I’m ripping all of your heads off one by one.”
The choir of vampires murmured their submission and scrambled to get a move on.
What the hell are we going to do? Ada thought as her heartbeat rose to a stampede. Red and the Seer stood in front of the only exit. She glanced to her companion–his eyes were flicking across the room, thinking.
Follow me, he mouthed.
Are you crazy?! Ada mouthed back, but he already hauled himself to his elbows. He crawled deeper into the bleachers, away from the door. She followed, counting seconds down in her head.
Three hundred…
Two hundred ninety-nine…
Two hundred ninety-eight…
They reached the end of the bleachers and stared at the back of a vampire’s ankles. The vampire was holding a remote and directing how the last charges should be wired.
Sixty…
Fifty nine…
Ada looked pleadingly at her companion.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered. His deep eyes, once clouded with pain, were now clear.
Ada thought back to the girl. How she could have been alive right now. She dipped her head slowly in a small nod.
“I trust you,” she whispered.
He pointed to a brick wall a few feet ahead of them, outside of the bleachers. “I’m going to blast a hole through that wall. Run that way.”
“You’re wh-”
The man leapt forward and bit into the vampire’s leg. The vampire’s yelp was cut off as they began to jerk and spasm, attracting attention from their comrades.
“Alexi?”
“Lex, you good?”
Alexi did not respond. Spittle dropped by their boot. They raised their hand, red lightning dancing between their fingertips, and blasted the wall to form a gaping hole.
“WOAH!”
“LEX!”
“GO!” Alexi screamed, except they did not sound like Alexi.
They sounded like the man.
The man’s mouth was still buried in the vampire’s leg. She couldn’t see his face. Ada scrambled to her feet and fled during the commotion.
“GET HER!” roared Red.
Two vampires leapt in her way. One, she clocked by flinging a weight into their gut, the other, she slid through their legs. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and the night air seared her lungs. She jumped through the hole–right into the waiting arms of a vampire.
“Where do you think you’re going, girl? ” she sneered. Her fangs grazed Ada’s neck, her vice-like grip pinning her arms. Ada growled and struggled.
“LET GO OF HER!” Not-Alexi roared. Ada’s head jerked towards the noise. A scream choked in her throat.
Despite the rage in “their” voice, the vampire’s face was contorted in pain. Their spine cracked at an odd angle, and thick, gray-black tendrils snaked in and out of their flesh. Mycelium, Ada realized with a chill, just as mushroom heads burst through the eyes with a bloody splatter.
“Luna be damned… Lexie…” the vampire behind her whispered. Ada took the chance and swung her elbow into the vampire’s gut. The vampire let go with a gasp, and Ada stunned her further with a heel-palm to the eye. The vampire staggered back, and Ada sent her toppling with a swift kick behind the knees.
It was Red’s turn to charge towards her.
“Naib!” the Seer barked hoarsely. “The charges!”
Not-Alexi’s mouth twisted into a bloody grin. It blasted one of the explosives, setting off the others one by one. The sound was deafening. Ada’s vision went white as heat seared her face. She yelped as the ground buckled beneath her. The last thing she saw was the creature silhouetted by flame as the ground caved beneath her feet and she fell, fell, fell into nothingness.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
Ada groaned as sensation returned to her body. Unfortunately, the sensation was shit.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
Where the hell am I? she thought. She pried open an eye just as a drop of water fell on it.
“Fuck ,” she muttered. The sound echoed. With shaking arms, she hauled herself into a sitting position and looked around. The air was chilly. Weak morning light filtered from a hole in the ceiling. A thin, green-gray stream lazily flowed past her feet. She was underground in the sewer system.
The explosion!
Ada jerked to life, heart hammering in her chest as her gaze darted around wildly. She opened her mouth to call his name, but then she realized she never got it.
“Are you there?!” she cried out. “Are you– please! ” She grit her teeth against the taste of blood and soot and crawled through the rubble. She picked through one chunk of cement, then another, feebly rolling them aside. “Please,” she whispered.
“Please,” murmured her echo deep in the pipes.
Clunk, clunk. The chunks rolled away to reveal only more rubble, ash, and sometimes, blood. Ada’s face contorted and she rested her forehead on the cement.
You can’t save them all, Ada, her father’s voice rung through her ears as claws tore into her heart. You can’t save them all.
Ada felt a tug on her curls. She yelped and smacked the assailant, only to realize it was what looked like a pale, disembodied hand. But that’s im… She didn’t finish the thought after what she saw last night. But the hand was in the sun’s rays, so at the very least, it wasn’t a vampire, and likely no other kind of monster. Taking a deep breath, she pushed aside more and more rocks, until–
She gasped. “It’s you!”
“It’s… me,” groaned her companion. He was unrecognizable with the soot and dust coating his face and dark curls. But those deep eyes–
‘Do you trust me?’
She could never forget those eyes again. Not after last night.
Half laughing, half crying, Ada ignored her body’s protests and shoved away more rubble until, finally, she could tug him out, both of them groaning in pain. She cradled him to her chest.
“You… you saved me… You sacrificed everything… to…” she whispered.
“Of course I did,” he mumbled into her shoulder.
“But why?” She pulled away to get a better look at him. His clothes were tattered, the bandages around his neck gone–
Ada gasped.
Where there should have been a neck were more of those tendrils. They glistened and stretched, connecting his head to the rest of his body. They snaked through his torso, filling in cavities Ada didn’t want to think about. Were they taking over him? Or repairing him?
She should have been disgusted. Any other human would have. But she was fascinated . This… man (?)... saved her, with abilities nothing like she’s every seen before in her research. Not only that, but he looked liked a human, talked like human…
Ada flashed briefly to the tears that flowed from his eyes.
…And felt like one.
“What… are you?” she whispered as a deep rumble filled the air outside.
The man’s gaze flickered. “Emil… I am… Emil…”
Emil’s eyes drifted close just as the Firefly helicopters touched down.