Julius ran into the graveyard the instant the local Magic Council showed up. Unfortunately, all of the local BPA assists were too weak for comfort when dealing with a vampire. Julius had initially considered running in after Watkins and leaving Ramona on her own. However, if she turned into a ghoul or, god forbid, a vampire while he tried to save Watkins, then he could easily end up in a situation with a vampire attacking people on the morning news. As the BPA was concerned with secrecy above all else, he had decided to stay with her until the wizards showed up.
The first thing Julius saw as he came onto the scene was Watkins missing an arm and a giant wingless bat drinking him. The vampire was so engrossed in drinking his one-time partner that it hadn't even noticed him.
"Well, that's disappointing," Julius muttered, a small part of him hoping that Watkins hadn't already been killed. His hopes crushed, he casually pulled out his Beretta 93R and blew the vampire's head clean off, large chunks of brain splattered against tombstones as its headless body collapsed.
The vampire's body began twitching uncontrollably as its head started to grow back. A messy pulp of blood coagulated around the damaged tissue, knitting the vampire's head back together as fresh wet flesh replaced what he had lost just a few seconds ago, the head had regrown, and the vampire whipped around to face Julius, hissing like a snake.
"Mathias, you are under arrest for the murder of a BPA Agent. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you do not surrender, I will be permitted to use lethal force. You will only be given one chance."
"You think you can kill me?!" Mathias the vampire hissed at him. "Your friend here thought the same, he faced me on his own, and I slew him with ease."
"Not to speak ill of the dead, but Watkins was barely good enough to fight ghouls. He wasn't qualified to fight a nosferatu such as yourself," Julius said as he waited for Mathias to take the bait.
Nosferatu was the lowest cast of vampires, and Julius was willing to bet Mathias's ego wouldn't allow him to be compared to a nosferatu.
"You stupid HUMAN," Mathias spat at him as he seethed with rage. "I am proud and noble Katakan, do not compare me to those filthy inbreds."
Julius smiled as Mathias took the bait and confirmed his species and, most importantly, confirmed he wasn't a higher vampire. That wasn't to say Katakans weren't dangerous. Like all vampires, they could regenerate from damage almost instantly. The Katakan's, in particular, were ambush predators who could turn invisible.
"You dare smile when you look into the face of death!" Mathias hissed at him.
"Don't hiss you sound like a cow farting," Julius said,
"I am a prince of darkness, a lord of the night. I am the nightmare of humanity!"
"Wow, that was almost painful. I can taste the cringe," Julius said mockingly. His smile spread across his face into a manic grin as his adrenaline started to spike in anticipation of a fight.
"Are you mocking me?!" the vampire squeaked in outrage.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no." Julius chuckled. "Pfft, yeah, I'm mocking you."
Mathias shot forward, his claws outstretched in rage as he closed on Julius.
Julius didn't hesitate. Instead, he opened fire, his first two shots blew out Mathias knee caps before he could react, and another round impacted one of his eyes, blowing the ocular organ to smithereens along with a large chunk of his grey matter.
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Mathias stumbled backwards as his head quickly began to knit itself back together. Julius didn't give him the time to heal as he continued to pepper Mathias's body with bullet holes. Julius knew that a vampire's regeneration was powerful, but it wasn't infinite. Healing required Mathias to cannibalize his body in order to repair the damage. Eventually, he would run out of excess biomass, and his body's regeneration would shut down in order to preserve itself.
The moment the Mathias bat head finished repairing itself, he opened his mouth and released a sonic attack. The concussive scream burst Julius' ear drums and threw him to the ground. He rolled with the attack and slid back onto his feet in a smooth motion as he aimed at Mathias's head, only for his entire body to vanish as he became completely invisible.
"You know it's almost a shame to kill you," Mathias's voice echoed across the graveyard, seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere.
"Shit," Julius swore as he dug into his coat pocket. "How do you figure?"
"This world is doomed. When the Alnune come for it, your people shall be enslaved, and your cities will burn. I only regret I will not be here to see the extinction of this miserable planet!!"
"Blah blah blah, evil speech, blah blah blah, be more original in your dialogue." Julius shot back
Finally finding what he had been looking for, Julius pulled out what could only be described as a cross between a silver egg and a grenade. Pulling the pin, Julius tossed the device into the air. Exploding, the remains of the silver egg showered the area in sparkling silver-pink glitter. Instantly the entire clearing turned into something that would be more appropriate for a nine-year-old girl's princess party. Most importantly, Mathias's massive man-bat form was revealed not three feet away from him, his form now covered in glitter. It would have been funny if he wasn't an eight-foot-tall bat monster about to eat him.
The Mathias screamed as he lunged at him, any pretense of stealth forgotten at the indignation of the glitter. Julius jumped to the side just as Mathias lunged at him. Mathias body moved past him crashing into a statue of an angel and knocking it over.
Julius smiled as his Beretta 93R began to glow as if it were being heated up in a furnace as his magic began to infuse the gun. The quick and dirty enchantment Julius was placing on the bullets wouldn't last more than two seconds, but that was more than enough in a firefight. His next shot didn't rip through Mathias's body. Instead, the bullets exploded with a scorching heat that seared Mathias's body forcing him to use even more biomass to repair his damaged body.
The vampire's screams quickly turned from bloodthirsty to terrified as everyone one of Julius' bullets ignited more of its body, turning the towering figure of glitter into a bonfire. Mathias turned and ran away from Julius and ran away. Julius swore as his prey retreated.
"God dammit, get back here, you twilight reject!!" Julius called out as he chased after Mathias. Mathias ducked behind tombstones as Julius opened fire at his retreating form.
Ghouls shot out of the surrounding darkness to try and slow Julius down, attacking him in suicidal moves to protect Mathias. Not hesitating for a second, Julius opened fire, killing three of them almost instantly as their bodies exploded from the bullets' impact. He kicked the closest one hard enough to shatter its rib cage as he charged past a dozen of the lesser monsters, determined to catch up with Mathias. But it was too late. Mathias, in a true display of supernatural athletics, leapt nearly forty feet up into the air and all but glided outside of the graveyard while Julius was dispatching its minions.
"Cunt!" Julius called out.
Julius stopped running as Mathias turned invisible, only this time as a way to escape. With all the glitter burned off its body, Julius didn't trust in his ability to track a Katakan through an urban environment, especially one it was more familiar with than he was.
Julius didn't even bother to turn around as he blasted the remaining ghouls into a chared paste. This was not turning into the best night. Worst yet, he still needed to go and check on Watkins.
🝈🜾🜗🜌🜶🜅
Julius stared down at the body of his short-lived co-worker. Watkins was little more than skin and bones, his skin almost translucent. He sat in a puddle of what little blood the Vampire hadn't lapped up.
Julius just shook his head in disgust at the pitiable scene. The first time he had lost a partner, Julius had been devastated. For Watkins, he just felt nothing. What was Watkins his … he thought for a moment; how many partners had he had at this point? He couldn't remember. Shaking his head, he closed Watkins's eyes.
"You see? this is why I suggested we get ice cream. You never know what your last meal is going to be, dumbass. I pray that you find peace on the other side." Julius whispered as he looked down at his latest partner's body.
Once he finished, he stood up and moved on to more pressing matters. He needed to find Ramona and plug her for information. He needed to find Mathias. And he needed to find out what the hell an Alnune was.