Blood Curse Hunters

by Rarity Belle

Chapter 1

In the dead of night was it dragged across the forest floor. The constant, near inaudible growling of a beast was heard echoing through the leaves. Everything was revealed in the pale moonlight though. That goldish yellow coated pegasus wolf had made another prey. The mouth was opened for just a moment, with a thud did it fell to the ground. The lifeless body of a unicorn that had been viciously slain. A clawed hoof was set against the belly and a dark howl echoed through the woods. In the dead of night had it claimed its prey and feast for the rest of it. Everything was right where it had to be, with the exception of one thing: a roof over its head.

The wolf glanced back and forth, then dug its claws even further into the fresh flesh. Only to just drag it along the forest floor without much effort. With the mouth then finally free, the mumbles were made. Mumbles that couldn’t be believed if ears heard it. “Easy, now,” it spoke in a tone that was conflicted by shyness and primal instinct. A deep sigh was then released through the nostrils. The eyes glanced up to the moon before a wolfish grin was then given. The cloudless night had done the wolf good, it had done her good. Everything just went the way that it was supposed to be. Everything had gone the way the wolf had predicted to have gone.

In the ears were the last sounds caught from the living unicorn. One who had strode off the given path and right into the claws of the beast. “N-No, please! S-Spare me!” it would have plead for its miserable life. Only moments before the claws and teeth would have set itself in the flesh, killing the pony in a gruesome manner. The thoughts caused a shiver to go over the back. A pleasant one, but also one shunned at the same time. Terror and horror went hoof in hoof, they were also despised at the same time.

“You, Fluttershy, survival, feed, on flesh,” the wolf mumbled to itself while it kept on wandering through the forest. A forest that had become the home away from home. But that wolf, was nopony else than Fluttershy the werepony. The dreaded accident that happened only mere months ago between her and Rarity had changed her life. Sanctuary had been given to her, whenever the moon was as full as it was. Security granted by the castle in the woods, the one place where she could have been truly safe. The one place where she wanted to be during her transformed times. Fluttershy had learned to live with her curse, but still longed to times where she wasn’t.

~~~~

Time changed everypony, that much was certain. Nearly a year had gone by since Rarity’s death to the world. Nearly a year ago had the flames consumed the once-so-mighty Carousel Boutique. Nearly a year had her friends mourned the death of the fashionista. But what they didn’t knew, was the secret life that she held behind for each of them. Rarity was everything but dead. Fluttershy knew, and a very select ponies knew it too. Hiding had become the main source of security and Rarity wanted to keep it that way.

Fluttershy didn’t knew how safe it was to drag a bleeding body down the forest floor to the castle. But if hunters had come, they would have easily been taken care of. Everything inside the castle was created to either scare, harm or kill mortals and immortals alike. Defense was the best offense in many occasions.

The castle came closer the more Fluttershy wandered in its general direction. Finally was she in the place that she had called her second home. With the claws still stuck in the bleeding body, the werepony entered the castle. She went passed the iron gates, feeling the warmth of the torches touch her ruffed fur. A purr of glee came from her heart, she was home once more.

She continued to drag the body through the castle and opened the massive wooden doors with her bum. Behind the doors was the throne room revealed which had received a massive make-over. Many of the paintings had been removed and the tapestry had all changed to designs that Rarity had either made herself, or bought incognito across the land. Fluttershy hurled the body inside and it thudded against the floor, yet it didn’t wake anypony.

Moments later she set herself ready to begin her feast. Fluttershy was lusting for the flesh and launched herself into the air. She pounced the deceased body before her fangs were set again into the flesh, this time ripping it to pieces and swallowing pieces whole.

Though her little adventure didn’t go truly unnoticed. Trixie, the faithful servant of Rarity came walking in through a side entrance. She laid just one eye on the scene and the feelings of vomiting came up in her. She turned away for a moment and placed a hoof against a temple. It was just sickening to see the wolf eat like that. Only when the courage had been gathered she dared to look back to it. “Trixie can’t believe that you can eat, that, the way you do,” the mare said before she shook her head again.

That wasn’t even the biggest problem. No, the biggest problem was the fact that blood spread itself across the floor. Blood that Rarity could have used, but the floor had just been mopped as well! It enraged Trixie but she couldn’t harm the wolf. Rarity had ordered that so many times. Speaking of Rarity, Trixie’s went over to the throne, but couldn’t find anything. Which meant that Rarity hadn’t shown herself to the world for the sixth day in a row. Whatever had come up in that mare, Trixie doesn’t know. Orders weren’t given by her either so she just did what she felt necessary.

Fluttershy never gave two bits about Trixie’s words and didn’t even notice it when she left. Trixie would have gone passed her, back to the hall with the doors leading to the staircases. Rarity must have held herself locked away somewhere in the castle. And Trixie would find out where.

~~~~

Staircase up and staircase down, that was the way how Trixie maneuvered herself through the massive castle. She had never expected that the place was looking like that. But when she was descending from one of the many steps, a bright light caught her attention. Something that terrified her down to her soul had happened. A flash of lighting that signaled the storm that would erupt. A roar of thunder happened soon afterwards.

Rain had begun to tick against the windows and Trixie knew that the once so calm night had turned into one of illness. Trouble would have arrived, she just didn’t knew in what form it would have come. A flock of mane was removed from her eyes before a deep sigh was released. Where could Rarity have been? Trixie was once more in the hallway and heard the sounds that Fluttershy made while she was eating her dinner. The weather didn’t seem to be doing anything to her even though the thunder roared only a few dozen hooves away, out there in the wilderness. Trixie shook her head and didn’t even made a single remark on the matter. Instead, she went over to the next door and entered it.

Another flight of stairs, how unsurprising. Trixie made her way up with s slight grumble. All the way up to the top of them and there she found only one door. A door that she hadn’t seen before when she recalled it. Which meant that behind it laid a room which she had never seen before. What else could have been hidden behind that very door. Who could have been hiding behind it? She placed an ear against the door in the hope to hear at least some sounds.

But the only sound she heard was the ticking of the rain against the window. Nothing else came from there. But it did mean that there was a window located on the other side. A thing much more preferred than hearing the claps of thunder without any indication. With a nervous hoof had Trixie gotten hold of the doorknob. She turned it open and much to her surprise, the door actually opened. With a creaking sound went it further, until a thud against the stone wall made it stop.

The eyes of Trixie went wide with surprise when she took a gander through the room. It was a wonderful looking bedroom with attaching bathroom next to it. A poster bed that seemed like it was fit for a queen occupied most of the room. But it was atop of the blankets that her surprise turned to horror. Out of everything that she possibly could have seen in that very room, did she not expect to see that one pony just sitting there. But it was there nonetheless.

Trixie blinked with her eyes while she remained standing in the opening. Shrouded in the darkness, only lit up when a flash of lightning came, was it revealed. That ivory white back, purple curling hair and that purple skin between the white bones. Trixie gulped loud while she froze. She had found her, she had found her mistress. She had found, Rarity herself.

~~~~

It was indeed Rarity who sat atop of the bed, her pose regal and ladylike as she always had been herself. But trouble seemed to have struck her servant and she felt it. For the first time since six days would her eyes have been opened again. A deep, animated exhale was released through her mouth before the wings lowered themselves. The bones cracked at certain places, sending a horrifying sound through the room.

“And here I thought, that even my most loyal servant didn’t have the courage to find me. For six days I have been up here, wondering what life would have been if I hadn’t been turned into the abomination that I am. And yet, the answer is always the same. Trixie, could you be a dear and tell me what I’m thinking about?” Rarity asked of her servant. She spoke in a normal tone, no hint of anger or despair. Not even disappointment or anything else filled it. Regal and emotionless, the voice of a ghost that dwelled in the world of mortals.

Trixie was baffled by the question, but she still took the initiative to reply to the words. The other question would have been what she would have answered with. She shared a mental link with Rarity, a mental link that allowed her to pick up some of her mistress her thoughts. So she did the only thing that seemed to make a bit of sense to her. She closed her eyes and tried to find the mental link with Rarity.

Who in return allowed the thought to slither to her servant. The images that Trixie got before her eyes were all events that happened prior to her ‘death’ in Equestria. All kinds of trouble that she went through. But there was one event that seemed to have been sticking out, one event that involved Rarity’s little sister. Trixie relived the moment for the moment before she was shocked back into reality. “You, you heard them, but you decided not to make a move? Why?”

Rarity kept on staring to the world outside, then her lips formed a gentle smile. “Because I know how those fillies are, were, used to be, if I had done anything against them in that moment, I wouldn’t be standing here any longer. I heard them, yes, the entire time while they were scurrying around, but I had to keep my new nature hidden from them. The less they knew, the better it was.” A gentle sniff came from the vampiric mare, fighting back the bloody tears that wanted to form beneath her eyes. She had to change the subject. “So tell me, why are you here?”

Trixie was a bit flabbergasted that Rarity asked the question, though she could only answer truthfully. “I, well, Trixie’s h-here because, the wolf, dragged another body, i-into the castle.”

“I see,” grumbled Rarity in response, “leave me be and I will join you soon. I suppose she’s in the throne room, feasting on her next meal?” No answer came from Trixie and Rarity knew more than enough. Time had come to reveal herself again in the throne room.

Trixie was dismissed and the door was left open. Rarity would have coiled her wings back around her body which then formed the seductive nightgown around her body. A single nod was given to herself before the mouth opened. Her two canines became longer until they had formed the fangs that they were. Rarity was back, the vampony which she had become had returned once more.

~~~~

Step by step did she went down the staircase. Step by step did she went down to the main hall. Rarity wandered the steps that she knew so well, dressed with only her wings and her mane and tail in the usual curling, she didn’t look like she had aged a bit. The vampony kicked her legs into a higher gear before she let out another sigh. It had been six days since she had last fed on the blood of a pony. Even though she had only been turned some time ago, Rarity still tried to find a cure for her condition. Even if it meant that she only had to feed once a week. She had to become the master of her condition, she had to keep on playing the mind-games she was holding up.

While the vampony was descending, more events from the past seemed to be haunting her. Even though the staircase has no windows or light, to her it seems like she wanders through it in broad daylight. “A year since you came here, since you dethroned her. Just over a year has passed and you are still the monster that you already think to be. Still the being that is out for blood, the immortal that plagues the land. And then,” said Rarity with regret filling her voice, “there’s Fluttershy. I knew I should have done something a bit more to aid her in her condition. She’s hopeless, merciless. Almost, almost as if all the malice, anger and hatred that she normally can’t bring out, has been manifested in one being.” A sneer was then made before the lips curled into a grimace. “Almost like the plot of a book. Madness, I tell you, it’s all just plain old madness.”

Her thoughts went back to the time where she was denied to die her true death. That cursed dawn where Luna just had to intervene with her plans. She wanted to die, she wanted to leave life behind her and go someplace else. But no, the princess of the night had other plans for her. The princess of the night who once too was a horrible monster. “The princess of the night, who wanted to crown me the queen of beasts. Where oh where has life gone wrong for me?!” Rarity muttered to herself. She had come to a standstill for just a moment. All of the thoughts in her head had to be given a spot, whether she liked it or not. All of the events that she had gone through, she still regretted one thing the most. One thing that was shattered the moment Luna’s wing spread to block the sunlight. “Mother.”

Her mother was about the only being in Equestria that truly knew what had happened to her. The diary that had been placed atop of the desk had been haunting Rarity for the past six days straight. It was her punishment, to let her starve. The mistake that would eventually have cost her more than she wanted to pay. Rarity felt stupid after she realized what she had done and every so many months, the realization came back to her. Just when she thought to have forgotten about it.

Her legs once more carried her over the steps before she had yet another monologue with herself. In all her honesty, Rarity was in fact Rarity’s best friend. Rarity could always speak with Rarity about the condition as it was. Trixie nor Fluttershy had nothing to share with her and she didn’t wanted to bother either of them with the madness she was going through. “If you hadn’t placed that diary there, mom would have just believed that you died in the fire, but no, you just had to place the diary there, didn’t you?” Rarity nagged, blaming herself again for the mistake over a year ago.

“Oh would you just be quiet and let me think reasonable for a change?!” Rarity snarled back to her. “If mother has indeed spilled out your secrets, this place would be crawling with guards right now, looking for you. Unless Luna has some kind of bigger play into it all, which I highly doubt. No, there’s no need to keep blaming yourself for such a simple and stupid little thing.”

“Fine then, as you like to have it. But don’t blame me when things turn south again.”

“Shut up!” Rarity yelled before everything in her mind went quiet again. Isolation had never done her anything good and that moment was living proof of it. Rarity didn’t knew what to do and felt like crying. But the tears couldn’t come. She couldn’t cry while she was almost ready to face Fluttershy. Even though a year had passed, she was still afraid of seeing the big, bad wolf that her friend had become. When they first met, it was easy because Fluttershy had no idea what she was capable of. Only when time grew longer, the realization kicked in by the wolf and became a force of nature. A force that all should have feared.