//------------------------------// // Hunting Season // Story: Fangs // by Sapphic //------------------------------// *~~~*~~~* ...Octavia... *~~~*~~~* I was startled awake by a loud knocking at the door and I felt Vinyl tense up as well. 'Who could that be?' I thought to myself as I maneuvered my way out of Vinyl's grip. I got out of bed, leaving Vinyl their by herself, and made my way to the door. I noticed on the way over to the door that it was still very dark outside and began to wonder what time it was, and who would come at it. When I reached the door I peered through the peep hole and saw Shakes's sister, Sweeps. She had this rather pained and worried expression on her face so I opened the door. "Sweeps?" "O-Octavia, y-you have to come quick! T-they're at the bar!" She said feverishly while all I gave her was a confused stare. I was about to ask her who it was, but a voice behind me beat me to it. "Who's at the bar?" I heard as I turned to see Vinyl standing in the doorway of the hall, her glasses missing from their usual spot on her head, with an attentive look on her face. "I don't know, I was about to go in, b-but I heard Shakes on the inside and it sounds bad!" She said as her eyes began to well with tears. I moved to comfort her as I brought her into my house and sat her on the couch. Though I didn't know her, I did have enough of a heart to comfort her. I saw Vinyl start towards the doorway and move past Sweeps and I, a look of both determination and anger rising in her eyes, accompanied by a small frown on her mouth. I was confused why it would only be a frown, I would have expected her to be gritting her teeth with rage, or just something more than what she was doing. I knew where she was going, and I had a good guess on what she was going to do with whoever was in the bar, so I got up from my spot on the couch and started towards the door myself just in time to see Vinyl turn around. "And just where do you think you're going?" She asked with a cocked brow as she blocked the exit. "With you, to make sure you don't do something you regret." I answered truthfully with a small smile on my face. She started to open her mouth to protest, but closed it and shrugged. Maybe she saw some truth in the implications of my statement; that she probably would do something that she regrets and also saw some use in bringing me. Though she did hesitate for a moment before speaking. "Okay, but keep out of harms way, I don't want you getting hurt." As cheesy as it was, it was still warming that she wanted to protect me. I nodded and we headed out the apartment and into the night to see what was going on at the bar. When we got into the elevator to go downstairs, she turned to me. "You know, for some pony that I figured to be an uptight prick, you sure did turn out differently than I expected." I turned and gave her a look of my own. "What's that supposed to mean?" She shrugged. "It's just that when I first saw you in my bar, a low and run down club, that I figured you must not have as high standards as most ponies up here in Canterlot." "I prefer more reasonable set of expectations rather than being one of those that think they can't live life unless it's the high life." I stated firmly, getting a grin out of Vinyl. "So you like to be wealthy, but still capable of getting by with less?" She asked, pretty much summing up how I lived now, though I wasn't particularly wealthy, I could survive off of less. "You're a fine one to talk about wealth Vinyl." I said, remembering that whole building Vinyl had bought from underneath the symphony. "What?" She asked in confusion. "My friends did some digging on you, I didn't know about it and I didn't approve of it, but they said that you had an agent, and even bought a building for quite the sum of bits." She thought on it for a second before laughing. "What are you laughing at? Was it not correct information?" I asked, wondering what was so funny. "Oh no, it's true, I was just remembering that whole thing. Trust me, funny stuff." She said as she wiped a tear from her eye. Now I was totally confused. "What?" Was all I could say. Vinyl looked back at me with another wicked smile. "You might know some of me Tavi," She began ", but you're far from knowing everything about me." She said with a wink as we took the rest of the ride down the elevator, and most of the walk to the bar for that matter, in silence. I was just stuck thinking on her words: "You might know some of me Tavi, but you're far from knowing all of me." I had spent an entire night and a few extra hours just learning about her, either she was far more complex than she appears or she was bluffing, but I had a feeling she was far more complicated than I could comprehend. *~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~* We arrived at the bar and stared at it for a moment, silently debating whether or not to actually go in or not, but I knew that Vinyl was bound to go in if Shakes was as close a friend as she appeared. However, the carnage on the outside of the building was both enough to scare away any onlookers and enough to make it look like tiny tornado had hit. "What do you think happened?" I asked as I looked at the variety of bar stools and trashcans that littered the entrance alone. Vinyl shrugged as she walked up and nudged on of the trashcans with her hoof so it rolled. "It looks like something big went down here. No way one pony alone could get into the bar and do this much damage on the outside as well." She said as she turned to inspect a broken window. "What makes you say that?" I asked, curious about how she would know that. A sudden crash sang out before she could answer that caught both of our attentions. "Let's go see." Vinyl said before bolting towards the door, leaving me in the dust. I tried to stop her by shouting after her, but I fell on deaf ears since she was already inside. I sighed and started my own, much less hasty, trot into the bar. *~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~* The first thing I saw in the bar were three slumped over stallions, lying on the ground limp, the same ones from the time in the ally. Vinyl was also looking at the stallions and even went as far as to tip one over to get a better look at him. The second thing I noticed was the massive amount of destruction in the bar; Bottles broken on the floor, tables flipped, windows broken, and even one of the booths had been ripped out. The last thing I noticed wasn't exactly obvious, but it did catch my eye. Three small black poles stuck out of the wall, only about half a foot long. I went over to the wall where they stuck out of the wall, and further investigation revealed them to be arrows stuck half an inch deep into the wooden wall. I wondered what or who could have put these here, but decided to call over Vinyl. "Hey Vinyl, mind coming here for a second?" I called out as I managed to pull one of the arrows from the wall with some effort. "What's up?" She said casually as I held up the arrow for her to see. I found this sticking out of the wall, I realize it's an arrow, but do you mind giving me anything extra?" She gave the arrow a quizzical look and wrapped her magic around it. I realized that she could know absolutely nothing about it, and could be just a regular arrow, but I was confused why they would be in the bar, and sticking out of the wall as if they were shot. After about a minute, something clicked in her mind. "Oh! I've seen these before!" She shouted as if she had just remembered the answer to a hard question. "These are used by some guys who hunt Vampires! I met some awhile back; though these arrows are really out of date and old, literally useless unless you really know how shoot a bow and arrow or a cross bow." She said as she carefully examined the bolt closer. The sudden sound of wood being broken came from down the hallway near the bar. Vinyl moved in front of me protectively as a faint glow began to surround her horn. Shakes was suddenly thrown into the room, skirting across the floor until she landed in the middle of room. "I really underestimated you, you know." A familiar deep voice spoke from down the hall. Vinyl ran over to Shakes and bent by her side. Shakes was still breathing, but her eyes were clenched in pain and blood rolled down from her head. "You managed to take out my three lackeys easily, and even gave me a run for my money, so I'll give you one last chance." The deep voice said as it came closer to the room we ere standing in. Vinyl got up from Shakes's side and looked towards the hallway just in time to see that bouncer that she fired walk in as he pulled an arrow from his shoulder. "Tell me how to lure Vinyl, and I'll make your death qui-" His sentence cut off as he looked up, eyes landing directly on Vinyl. A wicked smile formed on his face as his blood dripped from his wounds. I noticed his blood was much darker than the blood I was used to; it had a deep red, almost black look to it, but still recognizable as red if you looked closely. "I see that it was easier than I thought." He spoke with a little chuckle at the end. "Bigs..." I heard Vinyl speak softly as she charged her horn and quickly shot a bright bolt at him. Bigs side stepped the shot that hit the wall right next to him, leaving a black burn mark on the wooden wall. He took a look at the mark before turning back to Vinyl with a slight chuckle. "Hasty there aren't we?" He said with his wicked smile still plastered on his face. He turned to me and the smile only widened. "Oh? And you even brought Miss Melody along too? How cute." He said with a chuckle and even blew me a kiss. I cringed with disgust from the gesture. Vinyl didn't hesitate to shoot another bolt at him, only to have him sidestep it once more. "Shoot all you want, your bolts are, and always will be, too slow." He said in a more serious tone, but the joking one still present. Vinyl's only response was a growl-ish type sound. "You know what, why don't you go ahead and come along with me quietly Vinyl?" Bigs said as he propped himself up against the bar, toying with a bottle of beer. "Forget about it." Vinyl spat in response as she charged up her horn once more. Bigs picked up the bottle with his hoof and broke it over the bar table. Vinyl shot a bolt at the bottle, but Bigs was quick to move it out of the way and start a run in my direction with a crazy look in his eyes. He jumped towards me with the bottle's jagged end pointed at me, but something else slammed into the side of me and tackled me to the ground, avoiding Bigs entirely. I looked up in a daze to see that it was Vinyl that had tackled me. I didn't have much time to wonder how exactly she had managed to move from Shakes to me before Bigs could because a sudden sharp whistle got both of our attentions. Bigs held the jagged bottle dangerously close to Shakes's neck with a smug smile on his face. "I'll ask one more time before I start taking lives; Give up now and come along quietly." He said as he pressed the bottle into Shakes's neck, causing little trickles of blood to begin to spill. I saw Vinyl tense up, and Bigs saw it as well. "Oh? A bit thirsty are we? Well come and take a sip, I'm sure she won't mind." He spoke. "I know how you get when you see blood, this mare told me all about it. Claiming you got "Uncontrollable", and frankly, that intrigues me." He said as he dropped his bottle to the ground, only to pick up a tall glass. He put the glass up to the wound in Shakes's neck, letting the blood slowly seep into the glass until about half an inch was inside the bottle. "Come now, and show me your inner monster!" He tossed the glass up in the air and turned around, hitting it with his back hoof and sending blood and glass shards towards me and Vinyl. Vinyl got in front of me and took the both the shards and blood. It wasn't to long after that that she was on the floor kneeling slightly. "Vinyl..." Was all I could say. Ever since she had met me, all she seemed to do was protect me, whether it be from her or something else. I was amazed that a lowly street mare, one that I would expect to hate the wealthy, to put her life on the line so much for me. I knew what Bigs was trying to do; he was trying to get Vinyl in her feeding mood to maybe send her after me again. I couldn't do much since this was a battle of strength and speed far greater than my own. I noticed a single drop of sweat bead down from her forehead. She quickly wiped it away, but I knew that she was getting the lust for blood. "Come on now, I'm growing bored, show me this beast that your friend here described." He said as he planted a hoof firmly on Shakes's head, making her groan out in pain with the little time of consciousness she had left. Vinyl's coat was visibly tensing up, the hairs standing on end as she hunched over in a position that looked similar to a Pegasus before they took flight. "Do it." Bigs said, the joking tone gone, making it sound more like a command. Vinyl charged forwards and tried to tackle Bigs, moving at a dizzying speed, but Bigs only side stepped and she crashed into the wall behind him. A large crack in the wooden wall was left when Vinyl dropped downwards from it. Bigs made a 'tsk' sound with his tongue as he walked over slowly until his body stood above her, his smile was gone and was replaced with a small frown. "Shame," He began. "I was really hoping for a good fight. Your friend over there put up a better one than you did." He said as he knelt over her body. "I don't know why he says you're so powerful, I mean, compared to me you're nothing but a weakling." He got up from his spot over her and turned his attention towards me. I felt a shiver run down my spine when he began a slow trot over to me. He got about half way across the room before he spoke. "I think I'll be taking you with me, you seem like you would make a nice dinner for my brothers and I. They do tend to crave your 'high and mighty type' so much." He spoke with a new found devious smile. My eyes went wide as I began to scoot backwards, trying to distance myself from him as much as possible. He continued to walk, and eventually, my cowardly tactic came to an end when I hit the wall. He kept walking until he was right in front of me. "But you know what I think?" He asked as he knelt down so he was face to face. "I think that I should just tear you limb from limb right here." He said as he bared his fangs and pressed his hoof into the front of my neck, closing my windpipe. His mouth came closer and closer until the two sharp canines pressed lightly on my neck. "I'm going to make you scream." He whispered as his fangs pierced my neck, a small pinch of pain followed by a warm trickle of blood dripping down my neck. I felt the world growing dark, the lack of oxygen in my body finally catching up with me. I tried to move his hoof, but it was useless, it was as if he were made of cement. My eyes began to shut just as a voice rung out. "Stop." The voice echoed throughout the room, and I recognized whose it was. "Just...just take me, but let them go." It was Vinyl's. "Vinyl...don't" I was still out of breath from that bouncers hoof and my protest only came out as a whisper. Bigs lifted his head head and hoof before he turned to face Vinyl. I peered around him to look as well. She stood with small scratches and cuts on her body, probably from the impact with the wood and the glass that she jumped in front of. Her lip was busted, leaving thin trail of darkish blood trickling down her chin and dripping onto the floor. Her eyes, however, were not dilated, which from what I knew, meant she wasn't in her feeding mood. She looked pretty bad, but she was still able to move. "Ah, I see you finally saw how pointless it was." Bigs said as he walked over to her. "Or maybe it was something else, but that was then and this is now." He said with a cocky smile "Ready to go then?" He asked as he finally reached her. Vinyl was visibly pissed, and I swore she was ready to knock the life out of him, but she reluctantly nodded at him. "Good, we best not keep him waiting then; He will be so happy when I show you to him." He piped as he pushed her out the door, and on the way out, picked up another bottle and crashed it over the doorway, probably for safety. I finally realized what was happening, he was taking Vinyl. I worked too hard to get her back, she can't go now. I won't let her. "Vinyl." I called out as I tried to move, but the place where Bigs had pressed into my neck still had me breathless. I sat there as she left, the one mare that I had grown to actually like, and maybe love, left. I didn't know where she was going, but if it was with that bouncer, it could only be bad. *~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*