CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE MESSENGER

You are ugly now, on the inside, where it matters most...you are beastly.
-Alex Flinn

Once upon a time, there was once a very rich merchant, who had three sons. Being a man of sense, he spared no cost for their education, but gave them all kinds of masters. His sons were extremely handsome, especially the youngest. 

When he was little everybody admired him, and called him "The little Vanity" so that, as he grew up, he still went by the name of Vain, which made his brother's scoff.

Him? The youngest, stupidest yet strongest vampire in town was the best one. Seriously?

The youngest, as he was handsomer, was also thought better than his brothers. 

Still, the two eldest had a great deal of pride, because they were rich. They gave themselves ridiculous airs, and would not visit other merchants' daughters, nor keep company with any but persons of quality. 

They went out every day to parties of pleasure, balls, plays, concerts, and so forth, and they laughed at their youngest brother, because he spent the greatest amount of time hunting.

Little did they know that it would be their downfall.

One night, on a full red moon, the Wicked Queen came to Vain and she told him "Ghislain, work for me. Prove yourself and work for me. We'll be unstoppable." as so, with no further instruction, he slaughtered his brothers.

And he had his father, who he said had murdered them due to his insanity under the red moon, locked away.

Ever since, he's done the queen's bidding, collecting information through human manipulation and sending it to her. Nobody would suspect a thing, from a man as dumb as him with a face like that.

Vain was deadly because of his fame, not despite it.

That was indisputable, even for a messenger.

Now having to take him down Little Red faces the group, these being the first words out of her mouth that morning besides the things her and the wolf conversed over the mental link. "The man we're about to face is dangerous, not that smart but very strong. He's a half vampire with a homicidal tendency-"

"How does a homicidal tendency work? You just dabble in murdering people or what?" Charm, who tends to interrupt quite a lot, leans over to Magician and asks this -not trying to whisper making Little Red clamp her mouth shut and glare.

"Yeah, I don't know if that's what one would call tendencies." Her best friend says in reply, shrugging as their finger cause their magic to play with their hat that they spin in front of them on a cloud of purple.

The wolf joins the conversation, purely to annoy Blythe. "I can't imagine there's a half measure there, you either murder someone or you don't."

"What if you kill someone and then they're brought back to life? That's a dabble." Doc says, making his love tune into the conversation as well.

"You mean necromancy?" Snow asks, a little taken aback.

"Well I was talking about like, CPR or restarting their heart but sure." The dwarf replies.

"Oh. Well then..."

"Can you do necromancy?" Archer asks, turning to the bard.

"I can't." She grumbles, crossing her arms with a pout. "I want to make eternal flowers but it never works."

Magician, as if to rub it in their best friend's face, chirps "I can!"

"Good for you, can you both shut up about murder now?" Huntsman snaps, arms crossed.

Wolf- -knowing that Huntsman wasn't talking to him but wanting to make him mad- -replies before anyone else could. "I mean sure, that's against my good morals anyway."

"Your moral compass is a fucking roulette wheel, shut the fuck up." Locks says, having seen him be nice to children who kicked him in the ankle but slaughter one of the queen's soldiers who merely shot him a glare.

"Say's the one who picks off soldiers with a glee smile but also gives me a disgusted look for picking flowers." Charm pipes up, always willing to speak so long as it makes the leader angry.

"Shush." Magician says with a laugh. "You'll get us in trouble."

"You shush, gremlin!"

"Oh I'll make you shut up, troll!"

Locks scowls. "Everyone shut up and listen! What we need to do is get in as fast as possible, with a surprise factor, and kill him before he can get mad or realize what he's really up against. Doc and Snow, be prepared for any injuries and the possibility of him needing to be knocked out."

The group agreed, making better plans among the pairs- -Little Red and Wolf, Locks and Magician, Archer and Huntsman, Snow and Doc- -about how to take him down.

Huntsman, by more than one teammate, was asked the best way to trick or take down a vampire.

For the most part he really did try to give them good answers, but it was weird, as he never had to think about the best ways to kill someone like him before.

That sheepish, awkward tone changed instantly when Wolf asked "Yeah, how could I possibly take down a vampire?" before sarcastically adding, "It would be terribly difficult."

The huntsman glared at the werewolf, jaw jumping as his fangs dug into his bottom lip. "You're an asshole."

"Ty mudak." The warrior mocks him in Russian, his smirk making the half-vampire feel livid. "At least I'm not an ugly ass half-vampire carrying around a rusty axe like a malyshka does with her doll."

Huntsman hisses at him, fists clenching as his eyes darken.

Taking to the challenge, Wolf growls back but doesn't stand to match his angry stance, just winks at him. "That's right, I'm louder."

Snapping her fingers, the witch-fairy wraps her magic hold around their foreheads, smashing them together.

Both men grunt in pain, Huntsman stumbling back to fall on his ass as Wolf grabs his forehead -both coming away with it with bloody noises.

"I'm more powerful than you both, and your arguing is fucking annoying!"

"Right," Wolf says, a deep growl in his voice. "Because it's not like anyone has to listen to you and Charm bicker constantly or anything."

Locks, at that very valid point, flushes.

And so, the group dissolves into bickering yet again.

It was quite annoying, how accurately assure the leader was of their enemies skills.

Mostly because, yet again, she was right in describing how fast they'd have to be to surprise him.

Because as they were stealthily sneaking around, Wolf's very scent triggered Vain's senses and he attacked him without warning -simply for being a werewolf.

Little Red had to throw herself in front of her partner, sword blocking the knives the messenger threw -Wolf pulling them both out of the way as the dark magic powered half-vampire lunged at them.

As they rolled, the warrior covered the mercenary, shifting over her.

The protectiveness was useless because Lock used another magical whip to send Vain flying away from her team -much like how she did to Wolf upon first meeting him.

Though the witch-fairy doubted the two would get any friendly over time.

"Oh don't mind us," The warlock says, grinning at Vain. "We're just here to negotiate."

Without warning, the shifted wolf gives out a snarl -antagonizing the half-vampire making him hiss. 

Huntsman stays behind, being a half-vampire himself he can recognize when to attack Vain, what his weaknesses are and how to defeat him.

"Mind you, that our negotiation looks a lot like you willingly being ripped in half by my buddy Wolf here."

It was at that moment that the Ghosts realized Locks was trapped on the other side of Vain, who, at the same moment, came to the same realization.

Knowing he was probably going to be defeated and working in half-panic adrenaline rush mode, the half-vampire turns to her.

He wanted a free kill.

With a loud yelp, Locks spread her golden wings and shot into the air.

But the chase is something vampires enjoyed, especially when it came to the air. They're able to jump high at incredibly fast speeds -which was Locks downfall.

Her team reacted in time to stop Vain from biting her but his claws still dug into Lock's stomach and sliced large gashes across it.

They fell to the ground.

Being pissed off that Vain hurt the one he cared about most here, Archer knew they would enjoy watching as he was torn apart as Wolf descended on the Messenger -sharp teeth ripping his shoulders clean from his head.

To kill a vampire, you need to rip their heart out.

So Vain's eyes stayed open, mouth parted in a silent scream as the werewolf continued to destroy his body -seeming to save his heart for last out of anything.

The medic got to Locks as fast as he could, the nymph on the other side of her to hoist her large wings around and lay her on her back.

Snow grew anesthetic apples to try to help with pain, but the dwarf needed information first.

"You just lost a lot of blood Locks, I need to know what type of witch you are, if you have only witch or any fairy blood in you." Doc asked, voice patient but eyes panicked. "What kind of blood do you have?"

"Huh?"

"What kind of blood do you have."

"Oh...red." The leader nods, happy to be of help.

Little Red, small hands grabbing onto Charm, pulled them both up to Lock's side -ignoring the rabid sounds of her partner behind them. "Our leader is half fairy, the fairy was a familiar and therefore, has the strongest presence. It's how she reads rooms so well. Charm will give her the first rounds of infusion, and I the second if she needs to recover last. I should be the last resort."

Doc nods, not asking the fairy as he pull her arm under his own to embolize her before sticking a thick needle through her skin.

Not expecting this at all, Charm let's out a sharp and short scream.

Behind her, her lute plucks it's highest strings in a wild, hazy song.

Locks wasn't sure if any of it was real.

"For such a anticlimactic fight, it sure put a lot of stress on the team." Magician notes with a frown. "Even Archer seems fucked up about it."

"That's because him and Locks have been spending a little extra time together in the room when we go out to bars." Wolf says with a scoff. "It's so obvious."

The mercenary shakes her head, red cloak drifting further down her nose. "They're not actually doing anything. I think they think we'd care when we don't. All they do it talk."

Dimitri rolls his eyes. "That's boring."

"Tell me," Charm says, voice a bit slurred from the blood loss but mind entirely intact. "When you two aren't being boring-" She's sure they both know what she means by that, and it makes the fairy smirk. "-is it counted as bestiality? Since he's a dog."

The werewolf pauses, actually considering it but not knowing quite what to say sticks with a shrug and just corrects her with a grunted out, "I'm a wolf."

Her smile speaks for itself, and the bard turns away with a smug look.

Little Red smacks her partner's chest, shifting on his lap and Wolf can practically feel her red-eyed glare through her hood.

Want to cancel out your boredom tonight? He asks Red, a cocky grin on his face when a small, annoyed gasp comes from her.

I don't know, she sassily replies. Want me to cancel out your ability to make children?

Damn, Dimitri laughs, not bothered. You want to go that rough?

Blythe flushes and cuts off communication, angrily huffing to herself as she crosses her arms.

Wolf really was going to get her in trouble one of these days.

That was for sure.