Fearless Vampire Hunters (Nemesis x Smallknight)

Finally, after days of voyaging, Esme crested the hill that lay before her destination: St. Gabriel's Mission. The old church, once a mission that housed and helped the poor and down-trodden, had gone into disrepair for the last century or so. Recently, a coven of vampires had decided that it would make one hell of a nice set-up. Below it lay catacombs, oddly laid out in maze-like patterns, allowing the creatures reprieve from sunlight. During the day, they hid themselves deep within the church's bowels, nearly a handful of hunters had been slain trying to go after them, half-cocked. Esme didn't want to join that club.

Nearby was the town of Brookhollow, a small village like many others, simply trying to live in harmony. Recently, the poor town had been haunted by the creatures, many of its citizens found dead, and a few children missing. A few hunters had come to help, hearing the town's messengers, sent to find help. Unfortunately, thus far the majority of those coming to help were utter twits. Esme had decided to come lend a hand, hoping to do her part to help rid the town of its infestation.

Heading down the hill, she walked passed the crumbling building, towards the town. She would go check out the building after a while, for now, she needed sustenance. For the last few days, she had journeyed mostly by foot, and she was ready for a rest. So, at a nearby inn, she settled down for a bit of ale and some food, as well as a rest in one of the rooms.

As afternoon settled upon the city, a well rested Esme left the inn, strapped to the nines, before heading across the meadow separating the town from the old church. The building itself was practically non-existent. Once a two-story church of maybe 2000 square feet, it was now crumbling stones and wood. The facade had fallen off, leaving the gutted interior completely opened. The second story slumped, the front of it leaning almost to the first floor, yet somehow not breaking off.

After a few hours of scoping out the crumbling dwelling, she found herself a place to lay in wait, hidden fairly well, but with a decent view of the exit to the caverns below ground. Opening her quiver, she loaded the small crossbow that was locked onto her forearm, clicking a silver-tipped arrow into place before wrapping her fingers around the release. In her other hand, she grasped her Cross of Xavier, fingers clenching tightly around it as the sun settled beyond the horizon. And, it seemed the instant the sun was gone, the creatures were unleashed.

Two crawled out of their hole, focused on the nearby town. Pausing, the female of the two sniffed the air, a slight hiss leaving her lips. And, with her existence given away, it was time for action. Esme's fingers pulled the trigger, the bolt flying from her arm, plunging into the creature's stomach. She let out a scream, signaling the others of the attack. Quick as possible, Esme re-loaded the bow for future use, before reaching down to grasp a throwing knife. Three more of the creatures emerged, raising their numbers to five. Somehow, it still didn't cross her mind that she could possibly be outnumbered.

Maxwell arrived at St. Gabriel's Mission in the cover of darkness and he could already hear the creatures crawl their way out of their hiding places. It did not take long before he saw them crawl out of their holes and look out into the dark. Out of nowhere he heard a scream that sent chills down his spine and he saw that one of the vampires had what looked like a arrow in her stomach. This seemed to be what really set the vampires of. They had been slow and quiet until this scream, but now they turned into what they really are. Bloodthirsty, evil savages.

Maxwell could see two of the vampires run from him and after a few moments of fumbling he grabbed his sword. The big sword was heavy and Maxwell could not keep it of the ground for long periods of time, but when he slashed anything with it that thing would end up in two pieces soon. A vampire tried to grab his sword to pull it away, but it ended up burning itself on the sliver. "Oh I am sorry" Maxwell said as the vampire hissed out in pain and agony. Without wasting anytime Maxwell ran forward and cut the vampires left arm over. He saw no reason to keep the creature suffering and swiftly cut its head of. "May you suffer where ever you end up in the after life" Maxwell said as he charged for the next vampire.

This one was much more sneaky and way faster. When Maxwell tried to slash it, it simply dogged and hit Maxwell in the stomach. He cringed in pain and almost fell over. The vampire saw this and did not let the chance go to past. It tackled Maxwell to the ground and tried to bite Max's neck. Maxwell fought with his bare hands trying to keep the vampire away from himself, but against such a stronger creature he did not stand a chance much longer. He tired to dig out a bottle of holy water from his pocket, but to no avail.

Maxwell could feel the vampire fangs nearly scratched the outside of his skin. He could feel how the vampires breath made the hairs on his neck stand up like needles. "Keep away from me" Maxwell said as he gathered all his strength and tried to push the vampire away one last time. He pushed the vampire a few inches away, but not enough to push the vampire of himself. Maxwell just gave up, he closed his eyes and gave up struggling and awaited his fate.

As the male of the original two charged Esme with break-neck speed, the girl grasped Xavier, hands tightening around the hint. As he got close, the girl swung the weapon, almost like a battle axe, the sharp dagger-like side plunging into the man's side. He let out a shriek. She tugged the weapon free and with another well-delivered swing, his head was lopped off, rolling across the old wooden floor, body crumbling in a heap.

A hand grasped her arm, yanking the girl around. The sudden movement caused her to loose grip on the weapon, the metal tumbling to the floor before a well-aimed blow from the vampire sent her reeling a few feet, slamming into a crumbling wall. Groaning, the woman forced herself up on shaking legs, just to get another power-packed-punch to the gut, causing a rough cough to leave her chest. Reaching down, she grasped her dagger, and sliced it across the hell being's chest, the silver sending him back.

Raising her arms, she plunged it into his chest, ending him with a blade of silver to the heart, as effective as any stake. Glancing up from the body, her eyes fell on a figure in the distance, one of the creatures pinning it down. Another human. The hunt forced from her mind, she ran fast as she could towards him, leaping from the stone structure to the ground. Planting the blade deep into the creature's back, it retracted with a scream, giving the man a well-needed window to regain himself. Pulling the blade from the creature, she didn't have time to go in for a kill before the being fled away, back towards the hole it had come from.

Reaching down, she extended a hand to help the man to his feet. Her eyes danced over the various items on his person, all hinting that he, too, was a hunter. she offered him a slight smile, a moment before a slicing pain burned across her arm and back. Spinning, her eyes fell on her Xavier cross, in the hands of one of those creatures, calloused hands wrapped around the wooden hilt, and her own blood dropping from the end. The creature smirked, moving to lick the red liquid. He opened his mouth, as if to say something taunting, but instead set himself up for a stupid death. As he got the blade close to his mouth, Esme kicked up on the long, spear like hilt of the weapon, and sent it through the roof of his mouth. "Moron," She spat, reaching out to yank the weapon from his head, then using it to lop the creatures head off.

The bite Maxwell was waiting for never came, but what came was a rescue. He could hear the creature scream in pain and run away before the girl could kill it. Maxwell was totally shocked over that for once he was not alone, there was actually another hunter here. The best part was that she was a girl. Even before the girl had a chance to help him up Maxwell had already taken a pretty good look at her. He like what he saw. When she stretched down her hand to help Maxwell he grabbed it and got up from the ground, but he did not have time to introduce himself before the girl was attacked.

Maxwell was about to warn the girl,but he was to late. Maxwell saw the vampire crunch down on the girls side. To his big surprise the girl did not faint from the pain or give in to the pain. No this girl did the wildest move Maxwell had seen all his life. She used her hilt as a weapon and that was like nothing Maxwell had seen before. He loved the way the girl even thou in pain found the strength to mock the vampire. She then presided to cut the creature's head clean of. When the girl was done Maxwell could see more and more blood run down her arm and the side of her body.

Maxwell grabbed her so she would not fall to the ground when she loosened up after the fight. He placed her gently on the ground and smiled. When he removed his arm's from the girl they where covered in blood and the girl did not look so good. "I need to be totally calm now" Maxwell said as he cut open the girl clothes to see the wound better. Suddenly Maxwell felt a bit sick himself. The wound was deep and blood continued to stream out of it. He had to think a few seconds about what to do, but only one good idea came to mind.

Maxwell found his bottle of holy water from his pocket and opened it. "This is going to hurt a bit" He said as he began emptying his bottle over her wound. "Well I guess since we have got nothing better to do. I am Maxwell" He tried to take the girl's mind away from the pain by talking about something completely unrelated. The wound began to boil as the holy water combined with the saliva from the vampire. It smelled like a rooting corps, but Maxwell knew this was the only way to heal this quickly and not leaving a to big of a mark.