Archive of Our Own

Techno was running.

He couldn’t remember what exactly was chasing him, nor could he remember why everything was so dark dark dark- 

And why he was so, so scared.

None of his years of training could have prepared him for this… monstrosity. This terrifying thing that would not let him go. 

His thumping steps echoed as he bolted through the strange wooden hallways that seemed oh so familiar yet still so very, very far away. He knew these walls were just next to him and yet he feels as though if he tried to stretch out a hand to them, they would be miles and miles away from his reach. He felt his legs wobbling with each step, but knew logically that they were still hitting the ground with the same force as normal.

He heard his footsteps echo around him, but he could hear the thing’s– the creature that was following him– footsteps louder than whatever could be closest to him. No matter what side table he knocked into and no matter what things he tore down from the walls, none of the banging and crashing was louder than the slow tapping of whatever was chasing him down.

His entire head was spinning and the hallway seemed far longer than it should be, and every single painting he passed by was more and more ominous as he felt eyes start to watch from them.

Running, running, running, running.

He didn’t have his knife, nor his belt. The chain attached to his cross had long since snapped off, and he wasn’t even given the chance of keeping his hunter’s coat.

Wait– given the chance? What does that mean? Why was he not given a chance? Who, or maybe even what, was messing with him? What even was happening, why was he running so much–

He tripped over his feet, collapsing and hitting the ground with another loud THUD that still wasn’t any louder than the being’s footsteps. He had fallen onto his arms, but his head only began to spin faster and faster with the rough impact. At least, he thinks it was rough. He could barely feel anything. 

He was still breathing heavily as he tried to pull himself back to his feet, but it was futile. Even trying to reach forward and crawl with his shaking arms seemed like too much, to the point where he felt like he might die if he tried to move any more.

Die? He can’t die. Not here, not now, not ever. No matter what every part of his mind was screaming, he crawled quickly off to the side, where the hall had… finally ended? The hall ended? It never did that. 

But still, he crawled to a nearby open door. 

An escape? He doubts it. But maybe it’s somewhere he could hide.

It was a… study? Maybe. He doesn’t know. The fear and the dizziness were destroying his mind, with the only thing driving him being the core instinct to just run from what he thinks is a fate worse than death. 

He barely got through the doorway and kicked it closed before collapsing onto his arms again, feeling the pure frailty and agony that seemed to be seeping into every part of his body.

Wait, felt? He can’t feel it. He’s not feeling anything. It’s just his head. His head makes everything spin and ache and seem like so much more than it logically should be. 

He wasn’t feeling the carpet scrape underneath him. He wasn’t feeling the air in his lungs as he saw his chest heave. He wasn’t feeling his legs shaking and weakening as he had gone along in this terrible, terrible pla–

The footsteps stopped.

There was no longer any echo swirling around him, but now he could just feel the creature behind him. With his last bit of energy, he slowly, agonizingly flipped onto his back, leaning on his already frail arms as he tilted his head up to the thing that finally caught him.

And all he saw was a silhouette of a hand reaching for him, barely a hair’s length away from his face while he opened his mouth to SCREAM–

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Techno was violently woken up from his slumber as the wagon jumped, knocking his head hard into the railing and forcing him away from his dreams.

He blinked away the residue sleepiness as he hissed in pain, leaning forward and putting a hand on the back of his head to rub it gently.

“Sorry!” the wagon driver shouted over his shoulder, still keeping his eyes half on the dark road ahead of them. “Didn’t mean to wake you up, sir! But we are nearly there, so you might want to get up anyway!” He turned back to his horses and soothed them gently, already closing the conversation before Techno even had a chance to respond.

Techno groaned, running a hand down his face as he took in a deep breath, calming his racing heart. The same dream again. It’s been the same bloody dream for nearly a whole month now. Nothing prompted it at all. He just one day went to sleep, had that nightmare, and then suddenly could not see anything more than that every time he decided to rest. Whether it’s just a nap or an almost full day of sleeping from recuperating, it’s always the same dream of running down the… hallway?

Is that it was?

Then he would… get caught?

No, that couldn’t be right. He wasn’t caught because if he was he would be… what?

What was chasing him? Was there even something chasing him?

It was a… hallway. Or maybe it could have been woods. The browns could have shown it was the woods.

But maybe it could have been walls.

But he still couldn’t hear anything–

He let out a deep sigh, rubbing his eyes roughly as frustration flooded him once again. This happens every time . He knows it’s the same prime-forsaken dream when he wakes up, but he just can’t remember what dream it even was. All that he can remember is that one feeling.

Fear.

But other than that, nothing else. Nothing that could give him a hint as to why this was happening.

He groaned again, sitting straight up and stretching out his aching body. He cracked his neck as he felt the back of his head for any sort of bump from the rude awakening, and dropped his hand when none were found.

He finally blinked away the final vestiges of fatigue from his eyes before he looked around to his surroundings. The road was well worn and sturdy, obviously being a core path to his destination. The tell-tale hills that surrounded the area perfectly caressed the moon as it began to rise. Was Techno really asleep that long? The sun was barely rising to its peak when he had decided to rest his eyes. For just a moment , he had thought. Damn it.

However, the driver was right; he knew this road well enough and had seen it many times to know this as the main road entrance to the hunter’s town, creatively actually called Huntsman’s Repose. As if it wasn’t already obvious what kind of place it was, now they essentially had a pointed sign that shouted, “Here! You’ll find dozens of vampire hunters here! Make sure to stop by and say hello to your protectors!” Techno thinks they should have been at least a little discreet, but he supposes that it doesn’t matter anymore.

He gripped the sides of the hay-covered wagon, shifting his legs as the tingles from how he had chosen to rest rippled through them. He hissed in discomfort, but still swung his legs through the bottom of the wagon railings and let them hang there. He rested his arms on the railing, and then rested his head on his arms.

Techno stayed on high alert as he gazed out to the hills surrounding them, slowly  taking in the scene and watching for any possible dangers. He may not be actively in a hunt right now, and everything is visible in the plains like this, but he just can’t shake off the instinct that had been engraved into him from such a young age. 

Always keep watch. Always assume something is trying to kill you. You are not powerful, you are weak. Become a frustrating prey that something would not bother to try to hunt. All driven into him since as far back as he could possibly remember. And now, with these strange nightmares that have been haunting him for so long, he refused to be caught with his guard down.

He let the rumble of the wagon on the bumpy road flow through him– a soothing, constant motion that at least eased a moment of his worries. The familiar weight of his knife on his hip calmed him just a little more, now that he was aware that he had some form of protection on him. His coat wrapped around his torso tightly, as he had used it for warmth while he ‘rested his eyes,’ and his belt had been shifted so that it was across his torso, from his right shoulder to his left hip. Everything important to him was within that belt, with his hunter’s identification, herbs, and even a few charms and vials of potions tucked away safely in the pouches that lined it.

He reached into the second pouch on top of his chest, pulling out a small blue root he had been gifted by Puffy a few days before going off to this hunt. Prime, that seemed like forever ago now. It had been nearly a month and a half since he’d gone off, and Puffy fussed over him just as she always did. Then she gave him the usual set of herbs and sent him off on his merry way.

This blue root, specifically, was meant to be chewed on slowly for a long duration of time to keep someone awake. It didn’t taste all that bad, but the taste wasn’t what mattered here. What mattered was that he still had almost half of it left, and a decent chunk of it was starting to dry and wilt already. It usually didn’t last long anyways, usually no more than a month, so he’s surprised it made it this far.

He huffed and brought it up to his mouth, biting down into it and scrunching up his nose at the unpleasant texture. He chewed on it, grinding it between his teeth as he felt the effects already start to slowly reach through his body. The fatigue that was plaguing him just a moment earlier was seeping away, replaced by a humming– but still not too overpowering – adrenaline. 

He let his arm fall as he continued chewing on the root, still not looking away from the hillside. 

Puffy… he hasn’t told her about the dreams yet. She’s noticed that he seems to be getting a lot less rest lately, even during the barely hour long rests he would take at the pub when he could, but nothing more than that. And even then, that isn’t surprising. There’s always a point that a hunter’s line of work finally catches up to them; maybe it was a failed mission, or maybe it’s just a particularly violent vampire they encountered, but there is always a point where even a hunter’s conscience will finally hit them. Maybe Puffy believes that he’s already hit that point. After all, he has been in this job for a long, long time.

Becoming a vampire hunter at the ripe age of sixteen might have sped up the process.

It doesn’t matter. No matter how much he wishes he could go back, he’s stuck here now. With these dangerous hunts and these strange dreams, he couldn’t escape a line of work like this.

And he’ll never forget that everywhere he goes, there is always a reason that people call him this generation’s greatest hunter.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Techno dropped two gold coins into the wagon owner’s hands, who gave him a wide smile in return. The man then tipped his hat off to him and walked away, whistling as one of the companions that met them at the entrance pulled the horse along. Walking away from the wagon, Techno took a moment to admire the town once more. 

Huntsman’s Repose was not a very lavish nor rich place, but everyone was still warm and chipper enough. Well, why wouldn’t they be? After all, they are living in what could count as the safest town in the region. Vampires wouldn’t dare come to this place, knowing that all they would reach here is their own demise. The benefits did not at all outweigh the risks to the vampires, and that kept the people here as safe as they could possibly be. 

As he walked down the roads, he looked around to the people living their lives peacefully. A woman held her son's hand while she shopped around the market to his right, and the son waved across the street to an entertainer that was lighting a double-edged torch. 

Techno paused for a moment to admire the way the fire started to spin in the entertainer’s hands, watching as it seemed oh so close to becoming something that could burn down the entire building behind it, yet it only ever blew just an inch away from the wood. Its flames danced within the hands of the one spinning them so violently, seeming so close to causing destruction, yet never reaching its goal.

Techno snapped out of his trance, blinked a few times, and continued on his way. 

The place he was going to was meant specifically for hunters, known to be a pub commonly frequented and made for his type of people. It was closer to the core of the town, and it was technically the place that started the rest of the town itself. As hunters had flocked to the pub in the small town, more and more people migrated with them. It was by far the eldest building around, but everyone made sure to always treat it with care. Anyone who refused to do so would have to meet the end of Niki or Puffy’s wrath, and not many have survived that type of encounter. Even Techno shudders at the memory sometimes, a phantom ache appearing in his right abdomen, where he knew was the scar of being taken down when he first got here. He wasn’t the most emotionally stable child, despite all his training.

He shrugged off the memories as he finally approached the pub. The small, carved wooden sign was swinging in the wind, which was starting to become increasingly more aggressive. The sky was becoming cloudy despite having been almost clear just a few minutes ago. 

Was he really that deep in thought? It doesn’t matter.

The sign itself wasn’t anything that special, although the building seemed to be both decaying and well kept. The sign had a pair of long fangs carved into it, with each fang blending creatively into the words of the name of the pub itself.

“Stake Out,” he whispered to himself, never forgetting how familiar it all felt. He had some words with the person who decided on that horrible joke of a name, but they’re probably long dead by now.

His eyebrows raised slightly at seeing two new slashes across the entrance door, but they faded in well with the rest of the scratched plank of wood barely hanging on. Though they were fairly large and ran across the door from the top right corner to the bottom left corner, it was nothing new. There was always at least one new wound on the door every time he got back, and he’s learned to stop questioning where they came from and why.

He finally stopped dawdling and reached an arm out, pushing the door open with a rough nudge, only to be assaulted with the loud laughter and shouting from within the place. He sighed as he looked around, taking in the scene.

There were dozens of hunters gathered together at a group of tables crudely pushed together, many of which seemed to be on their last legs as they wobbled precariously under the weight of some hunters banging on them. It was a scene filled with mirth and excitement, although Techno did not know why so many were celebrating. What had he missed in the month he was gone?

“Techno!” a voice shouted over the hubbub. Techno’s eyes glided over the group and fell onto the one who was calling to him. He let a small smile grow on his face as he saw that it was Puffy, her large curls of brown hair more frizzy and messy than usual. 

She looked stressed, though Techno assumes it was about the obvious increase in patrons for the night. She was wiping her hands off on her brown apron, which was already covered in a large amount of flour and sugar. She was wearing brown trousers, but her usually pristine light blue button up was covered in a few brown stains that Techno thought was blood. But they couldn’t possibly be. After all, Puffy would never let such things stay long enough to stain, even at a job.

She grabbed two drinks from somewhere off to her right and hurried over to Techno, giving him a quick side hug and a relieved smile. 

“You made it out alive!” she exclaimed, pulling away and wandering a few steps away. She chuckled and said, “You completed the mission? I hope so; you don’t usually come for backup.” She handed off the drinks to some patrons with a quick ‘here you are,’ and took away two empty mugs. 

“No,” Techno rumbled, “No backup needed.” He automatically took both empty mugs from Puffy’s hands, moving towards the counter. He leaned over it and slipped them behind it. He always seems to automatically help Puffy, even when there's no need to do so. Oh well. No harm done.

Puffy let out her own hearty laugh, though it was almost drowned out by the clamor surrounding them. 

“Well, then that's a whole other level of impressive! Wasn't that a whole coven you had to deal with? At least, that's what the reports that came in said.” She smiled again at him, crossing her arms and giving Techno a teasing disbelieving look.

Techno gave a slight chuckle in return, saying, “It wasn't a very large one. At most around thirteen, and at least around ten.” He leaned against the counter, eyeing the rowdy group of hunters. “They all blur together, so you know how it is.”

Puffy nodded as she agreed, “Yeah, I understand you, oh ‘Greatest Hunter’.”

He scoffed at the title, shaking his head slowly and pulling off his sash of supplies. Dropping it onto the closest barstool with little care, he also unclipped his coat from around his neck, sighing as all the weight finally fell off of him. He folded the coat twice, making it small enough to place onto the barstool with his sash while he slipped onto the one right next to his things. 

He ran a hand through his hair as Puffy slipped around the counter, putting some tea to boil on the nearby fire. She turned back around, opening her mouth to continue the conversation, before another voice suddenly shouted his name.

“Techno! You’re alive!” He turned his head to the side just to see Jack Manifold slide in next to him. He leaned on the counter with his elbow while he gave Techno a large, toothy grin. “How are ya, man? You finished your job over at that other town? Couldn’t bother to remember the name of it, but oh well. Wasn’t it a whole coven?” He shot all the questions at Techno at a rapid fire pace, barely giving him time to respond to even the first one.

Techno raised an eyebrow at the man, as he had leaned closer while asking the questions. He had a sparkle in his eye as he eagerly waited for some answers. Looking at Jack for just a moment more, Techno could see a light splattering of blush across his cheeks.

… he was drunk.

Techno side-eyed Puffy, who just shook her head and laughed at both of them, turning back to her boiling pot of water. 

Techno sighed, looking back at Jack and shortly responding, “Yeah. It was a coven. Not many, mind you, but I did my job.”

Jack still gave him a goofy smile, picking up a nearby mug and shouting so that Techno could hear him over the rest of the hunters, “Well then good job, big man! Cheers to a job well done!” He then drank even more, wandering away and swaying slightly as he did so, not even giving Techno a chance to respond.

Techno’s eyebrows were raised in a judgmental expression, but he turned back to Puffy before he made any comments.

“What happened?” he asked as Puffy started pouring the boiled water into a smaller cup. “Why’s everyone so cheerful tonight?”

Puffy nodded towards a small group of three, each of them with their arms around each other’s shoulders as they sang along to some strange shanty Techno had yet to hear. “One of the hunter teams discovered a vampire that had been tormenting a town for decades now. It had dozens of thralls, but they somehow managed to defeat the damned fucker. They came back and announced it, so everyone wanted to celebrate.”

She turned to Techno, having already placed tea leaves in the water, and smiled. “You know how hunters are. They look for any reason to have a party.”

Of course Techno knows. He started thinking as Puffy placed the drink in front of him and turned away for a moment to tend to other things. Hunters never knew when their next day might be their last, so it’s common for them all to treat every night like it is their last. After all, it was still humans fighting against powerful creatures like vampires. Hence the celebrations and drinking. 

He finally realized that Puffy’s co-owner wasn’t here, and he asked her, “Well, where’s Niki? Shouldn’t she be helping you out during rush days like this?”

Puffy shook her head, collecting dirty mugs from under the counter and grabbing a washcloth to wipe them down. “Niki’s out on a hunt with a few others. Left about a week and a half ago to a village that’s about a two day wagon ride from here.”

Techno nodded in understanding and didn’t bother to acknowledge the partying hunters behind him, bringing up his tea cup to his mouth and–

BANG– CRASH!

The door to the pub flew open violently, the door itself hitting the wall and almost causing a crack, with the beginnings of rain starting to go in a strong downpour. Techno whirled to the door, grabbing his knife and cross instinctively, as did quite a few other hunters closest to the door. 

A shaking and bloodied figure stumbled through the entrance, clinging to the scratched piece of wood that kept the strengthening rain out of the building. The figure was breathing heavily, barely able to stay on their feet, long hair draped messily over their hung head. They looked exhausted, but the person was so battered that Techno could barely make out who they even were.

The pub had gone dead silent very quickly, everyone tense and ready to fight, despite more than half of them, if not all, having been drinking themselves to an early grave just a moment ago.

A mug crashed to the floor somewhere behind him, causing Techno to whirl around to the sound. He saw Puffy just standing there, eyes wide and mouth open in horror. What in the world is she thinking-

“Niki…?” Puffy’s voice came out shaky and soft. Softer than a feather.

The figure looked up, and now Techno could finally see that it really was her.

Niki Nihachu, who was one of the top hunters of the town, and the co-owner of this very pub.

The same Niki Nihachu was looking at the crowd of hunters through hooded eyes, barely processing a single bit of the scene in front of her. Clutching her right arm, she tried to walk forward, but only stumbled more. Her breathing was heavy, and it seemed to be the only sound within the pub, as even the loudest of the drunkards went silent.

The first to react was Puffy, of course. She ran forwards and grabbed Niki’s shoulders, gently moving to her side and lifting her non-injured arm over her own shoulders. She grunted as she toppled to the side slightly in her attempt to carry Niki’s full weight, and it was at this moment that people finally started to react. 

A sudden panicked clamor rose from the crowd, and Techno took this chance to also run forward, helping Puffy carry her by taking her other arm. The crowd parted as they made their way to the back, which had stairs that would lead up to a few rooms that Puffy and Niki usually used to rent out to other hunters. 

They didn’t even have to talk to each other to understand what needed to be done. Of course, they’ve done this all before. Countless times. 

They just hope that this is a time where the wounded survive.

Jack burst forward from the crowd as they had almost reached the bottom of the stairs. He blanched as he saw Niki covered in blood, the trailing crimson behind them somehow all the more daunting.

Puffy turned her head and snapped, “Get water and a cloth. Now! Get the cleanest cloth you can find for her bandages!” 

She didn’t even stay looking at Jack to watch him nod his head with a hard expression, immediately running back into the crowd and out the still open door, out to the storm outside. A bucket of water from the well would be the first order of business.

Techno huffed and looked down at Niki’s battered form, analyzing every ripped part of her clothes and every scratch and stab that he could see. 

Looking up from her torso, though, he tried to look at her hanging head, only to see through her curtain of hair that she was looking at him with a feeling of such intensity that even Techno felt momentarily shocked by it. 

It wasn’t a malicious feeling that he was getting from her– hell, if he was to say the emotion behind it, it would probably be something closer to…

Fear .

Why is Niki staring at him with fear?

She looked away the moment she could process that he had made eye contact, but she started to shake almost immediately afterwards. Puffy started to panic a little bit more, speeding up her ascent up the stairs to get Niki to a bed faster.

Techno had no time to think of whatever that all meant before they had reached the top of the stairs and the hall of doors. Thankfully, nobody was residing in any of the rooms to be disturbed as Puffy just kicked open the nearest door with no hesitation.

The room itself was extremely small, but all they really needed was the bed pushed to the right wall. Techno let go and let Puffy rest Niki on the bed, pained hissing coming from Niki as her wounds were shifted uncomfortably.

“What happened? Where are the others,” Puffy asked in a panicked voice, impatiently looking from the door back to Niki as she supposedly waited for Jack to come back with the supplies.

Niki coughed, a bit of blood dripping from her lips as she let out a ragged breath. “There were… more than we thought… ambush…” She then reached into her tattered coat slowly, more blood smearing across her already ruined hunter’s coat as she pulled out a paper with shaky hands. She reached out towards Techno, the neatly folded paper now slightly crumpled from being in Niki’s pocket. “A message… for you…”

Puffy and Techno locked eyes, their heart’s stopping at the gesture. What in the world could this mean? Why would they even want to give a message to Techno?

He swallowed nervously, gently taking the letter from Niki’s hands. Her arm dropped immediately, but this exact moment was when Jack chose this moment to appear with the bandages and water, even a few healing potions.

“Here!” he shouted, the panic prominent in his entire being as he placed the bucket on the ground roughly and handed Puffy the cloth. She nodded fast and soaked it quickly, pulling a chair away from the nearby desk to sit by Niki’s bed and place the cloth on her head.

“Quick, she needs to get these sewn shut, and she needs bandages here, here, and here. Use the potion on these, the worst, and then start on the stitches–”

Techno stopped listening at this point, because he had finally recognized the wax seal on the letter.

A pair of wings with an emerald put in between the two of them, in a dark green colored wax.

The Angel of Death. The most powerful and longest-living vampire the hunters are aware of.

He couldn’t even hear anything happening around him. Everything was dead silent as he stared deeply into the seal, every single fiber in his body instinctively telling him to go into survival mode from just the seal itself.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The house was cold. It always was.

He remembered opening the door only a crack, watching his teacher frustratedly writing a letter, another one open next to him. He didn’t know what the seal was, but he saw the dark green color.

—

He remembered the day they broke down the door to the mansion.

He remembered running and running, the other children knocking each other down and screaming as whatever monster that had dared to hunt them started getting closer.

He remembered jumping out of a window.

He remembered running into the woods, limping from the fall.

He remembered smelling the smoke.

He remembered turning around and seeing the flames engulf the terrible place that promised to make him a great warrior.

He remembered watching that man barking out orders to a few others, saying something about ‘finding him as soon as possible.’

And he remembered every agonizing second where he ran ran ran from the threat, from the people that he was sure were vampires.

He doesn’t know how he escaped- He doesn’t know why he had to be let so alone-

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“–echno! Techno!”

Techno snapped back to reality, blinking fast and seeing the way he was clutching the letter tightly with both hands. He looked up to see Puffy’s worried expression, her brows furrowed and eyes questioning.

“What’s wrong, Techno?”

He only flipped the letter around, showing the seal to Puffy with empty eyes. Her face blanched, all the blood draining from it as she looked back at a now-bandaged– when did they finish? –Niki lying on the bed.

“Is that what you hunted, Niki?” she asked this in a soft, fearful voice.

(Both she and Techno knew that she was not supposed to survive.)

Techno swallowed, screwed his eyes shut, and ripped the seal open with his finger. It was rough, but he didn’t want to waste time trying to find something else to open it.

Techno unfolded it, eyes gliding across the page as he took in every word.

“Dear Techno Blade,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. Our messenger shouldn’t die on her way there, and hopefully nobody reads this before you and keeps it away from you.

I would like to formally invite you to my mansion for dinner. My messenger here should remember where it is, of course! Though I suppose she didn’t expect it to be my mansion, of all places. Isn’t that funny? I know this may seem sudden, but we have been attempting to reach you for an extremely long time, and I deeply look forward to seeing you once again.

In exchange for your appearance, we will let go of the rest of the hunters we have here in our care. They are alive, do not worry. But if you do not come in at the very least a week, we will have no choice but to eliminate them. We only have so many resources to care for three hunters. I do hope you understand.

And make sure to come alone. Don’t try to bring anybody else. We definitely do not have any space or time to care for them as well, so they will be sent off. You trust me, don’t you?

I look forward to your attendance.

Signed, Angel of Death.”

Techno had clutched the paper tighter the longer he read it out loud, his voice growing shaky as he continued. Puffy’s own expression did not change, but her eyes had slowly fallen to the ground. He supposes that it’s lucky Jack wasn’t in the room, although he doesn’t recall ever watching him leave.

Puffy let out a shaky breath, looking Techno in his eyes once more. The fear in her eyes was paralyzing, and her voice was barely any louder than a mouse.

“... Fuck.”

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Techno crept along the walls surrounding the mansion, keeping silent as he looked at the crudely drawn map in his hands. It was a dark new moon night, so his coat and hood kept him sheltered in the cover of darkness. 

Nobody wanted him to come here, especially not Puffy, but what choice did he have? It was this or leaving the other hunters for dead.

Puffy denied every option of him going, saying that this could all be an elaborate trap. Techno refuted by saying that leaving this be might be worse than going. There was no reason for them to call for him in particular, so leaving all the hunters to die and the questions left unanswered would have been worse than going. Puffy still didn’t accept it until Niki had piped in, having woken up just a few hours prior from her days long sleep.

She had offered to draw a map of the building and where she saw the Angel put the rest of the hunters.

After much, much more arguing, Puffy begrudgingly relented, and Niki drew up the map he was now using to sneak into a powerful vampire’s home.

There was forest stretching off to his right, and to his left was the overgrown vines covering every inch of the wall. Easy entry.

He rolled up the map and clutched the vines, hoisting himself up to the top of the wall. Here, he barely peeked over to see if there was anyone around to watch.

After almost a full minute of just watching every shadow before he accepted that it was safe to jump over. When he did, he bolted forward fast, diving into the first bush he could see. He supposes that he was lucky the place was so large, as the garden surrounding the entire place had bushes lining every corner.

After staying in there for a little longer, he looked up at where the nearest window was. He crouched and crawled slowly towards it, peeking into it and looking as far as he could see to watch for more people.

Once again, there was nobody. He tried pulling it open, but obviously, it was locked. At the bottom of the window was where he could see the lock itself. He grumbled under his breath as he reached to his thigh and pulled out his knife. He brought it up and started to carve as deep into the glass as he could.

It took a while, but eventually techno felt that the engraving was deep enough that he could try to break off that piece of the glass without shattering the entire thing. And sure enough, when he pushed hard with the hilt of his knife, it shattered only that piece, glass falling both to the outside and into the building.

Techno reached his hand through the opening and flicked the lock open, pulling the window with him as he rescinded his hand from the hole.

He stepped onto the window sill, hands gripping both sides of it as he looked down both sides of the hallway for any sign of a vampire. When he felt safe enough to, he jumped through the window fully, grunting as his feet hit the carpeted floor.

The hallways themselves were extravagant, yet still dark. Occasional paintings lined the walls of people he did not expect to recognize, and the dark wood that the walls themselves were made out of did not help the foreboding feeling that engulfed Techno.

He shook his head and crouch-walked to the wall, hiding in between two tables that were pushed up against it. There were dozens of them lining the wall, so he slowly got on all fours underneath the one to his right, and pulled out the map. If Niki was correct, he should continue down this hall to the right, take the first hallway to his left, keep going until the second hallway to his right, and the first door on the right again should have a room where the hunters are being held.

Techno nodded to himself and put the paper away in the pocket of his sash. He kept his knife in his hand, though. Just as a precaution.

He started down the halls, staying low as he crawled underneath each and every table, stopping every once in a while to listen for any nearby footsteps.

He was lucky. There was no one. Not a single soul could be heard throughout the entire mansion. It honestly made Techno suspicious, but he just kept his guard up as he continued down the halls.

The longer he was in this godforsaken place, the more and more unsettled he felt. These strange red carpets with intricate designs felt.. Off. These walls felt even worse. The tables felt…

Familiar.

What was this place, truly? What happened within these walls?

That was the only thing Techno mulled over as he continued his journey through the halls.

He really was lucky that there were tables everywhere for him to hide under. He reached the room quickly, though his knees hurt from all of the crawling.

He stood up after checking the halls again, staring down the even darker, pristine door that the hunters were supposedly locked behind. Techno wasted no time in pulling the lockpick out of one of his sash pockets, crouching again to focus on the lockpicking itself.

The door clicked open.

He slowly, gently pushed it further.

His eyes fell upon an empty, barren room.

In fresh, still-dripping blood painted on the wall, these words were left that will taunt him for the rest of his life.

“Wrong choice, hunter :)”

“I did wish you would have come through the front door,” a man’s voice casually said, right next to his ear.

Techno had no time to even turn around before he felt a sudden pressure on the back of his head, and the next thing he knew, he was on the floor, black slowly seeping into his vision as he heard the joyous cackling grating his ears.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Techno woke with a start, gasping and clutching his chest as he bolted up from the bed.

Wait, bed? He shouldn’t be in a bed.

He clutched his head as a dizzy spell overcame him, his eyes darting around the room with panic.

The room itself was extremely comfortable. The bed had some of the softest sheets he had ever laid in, and there were bookshelves lining the wall in front of and to the right of him.

Looking to his right, his breathing stopped entirely.

There, sitting right in front of the lit fireplace, chair moved to look directly at the bed, was a man.

Not just any man, but the Angel of Death himself. He had to be. 

Techno knew it was him from his bright green eyes and beautiful blonde hair. He knew from the way he was grinning at Techno with all of his teeth. He knew from the winged emerald crest brooch that was clipped prominently onto his chest.

And Techno was being watched .

“Welcome, hunter,” The vampire stated casually, his legs crossed and his head resting on his fist. His other hand was resting on the armrest of the cushioned chair. “Oh how I’ve been waiting for your arrival.”

Techno let the room fall into silence for a moment. Dozens of questions tumbled through his head, though his expression stayed carefully suspicious and hardened. Although, there was really only one question he really wanted to ask. The catch-all.

“What do you want, Angel?” he growled, reaching down to his thigh to grab– nothing.

His knife was gone. So was the cross clipped to his waist. So was his coat and his sash. The Angel must have taken them at the first chance he got.

“Please,” he scoffed, “Call me Phil. And I have many reasons to want to see you, Techno Blade. Did you know that it’s rude to enter someone’s house without permission? You really should’ve at least knocked on the front door.” The Angel smiled at his own joke.

Techno just gave him a deadpan stare, though he did not move to get off the bed with how his head was still throbbing. "Are you going to kill me?"

Phil actually seemed shocked by this question, his eyes widening. "No! of course not. I would never. How could you not trust me?"

Techno just gave him the same deadpan expression, and Phil laughed at it.

"I suppose," he sighed out, "You have no reason to trust me yet. It took me a while to get Tommy and Wilbur to warm up to me, at the very least. You might take even longer, what with how long you've been kept away from me."

Techno sighed aggravatedly. "You aren't making any sense, Angel."

Phil frowned at the use of his title, but continued, "I do wish you would stop calling me that, but I don't control you. You want to know what happened? Fine."

Phil stood up, walked to the bed, and sat down next to Techno's legs, giving him a bright smile.

"I've been searching for you for a long, long time, Techno Blade. Getting word a month ago that you were spotted in a place I could finally give you that spell. Do you like your dreams?"

Techno's breath left his body, but Phil did not even paused to let him process that realization.

"It took us a while to get that formulated, but getting a bit of hair for it was easy now that we could have seen you. Leaving you for a month to get information on my home was painful. I wanted to get you home already, but I knew I had to wait for your mental defenses to be low. When that group of hunters came to our door, I almost considered it a blessing. Wouldn't you call it one? It was an easy spell after that. It didn't even really need a spell from a vampire of my caliber."

Phil chuckled. "A quick healing spell and just a bit of mind control, and suddenly, I had the perfect bait. Your Niki... you didn't see the bite mark, did you?"

Techno froze. His heart started racing from that sudden bombshell, his eyes widening as the man in front of him just started fiddling with his brooch.

"I think by now she should have poisoned all of the alcohol and water in that blasted town, shouldn't she?" His smile widened. "You all really do trust other hunters a decent amount. Or maybe it was just her? Who knows."

"You're lying," Techno hissed, shifting away from Phil. "You're just trying to scare me. But you don't."

Another smile. "You didn't notice how fast she healed, did you?"

Techno's blood ran cold. He continued, "That blood was never hers. Though, if you weren't the one healing her, you wouldn't have known. Oh, then that means someone was keeping information from you. I wonder who it was. Was it Puffy? Maybe even Jack. Who knows."

Phil finally turned to Techno fully, his hand reaching out to grab his wrist, but Techno pulled away too fast for that. His smile did not falter. "I have been watching you for a long time. I have been waiting for this days for years. Ever since those disgusting hunters took you from me."

Techno felt his heart beating in his chest.

"I even tried looking for you in that blasted place they usually held the children, but I couldn't see a single hint you were even there."

A burning building, smoke filling his lungs as he ran, the man-- Phil, shouting orders to go and find him.

"- I burned that place to the ground for daring to not have you in it. But I never stopped looking for you. I sacrificed so many just to find you."

You really never did know who yours parents were, did you? That was the entire reason Puffy took pity on you.

But isn't she dead now? You really shouldn't have let her be so worried. Now she'll never know if you survived.

"Techno Blade- no." Phil reached forward again, gripping Techno's limp hand with both hands.

"Techno Blade-Watson. Thank you for coming back to me."

Techno's entire world crashed around him. He was watching the building burn, he was running through the woods, he was limping into the pub, he was watching this vampire as he said those damning words to him.

"Welcome home, my son. I'll never let you go again."