“So I can come out?” Scarlet asked.

“Yes,” Violet said.

The small bat began to, very slowly, crawl its way out from the net before collapsing on her coffin. She let out a soft sigh of relief.

“Well?” Violet asked.

“It’s not the easiest thing in the world,” Scarlet said. “Also, it’s not easy to do when you’re watching me.”

“Well I’m not going to look away,” Violet said, now clutching a knife in her hand.

“Fine, just don’t judge. Okay?” Scarlet said.

“I’m not going to--” Violet’s words were cut off when there was a small, sudden flash of smoke and the bat was gone. For a moment she readied herself to throw the knives, half expecting the vampire to come rushing at her. Even if the vampire couldn’t hurt her now, she didn’t know that.

What she didn’t expect, however, was what she saw when the smoke cleared.

“Oh my GOSH! How, why, WHAT? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha,” Violet couldn’t help it. She had expected dark, ominous clothing. Maybe leather. Vampires seemed to love leather, she suspected it was the whole ‘meat of animals’ thing. But she did not expect the ‘dark, creature of the night’ to be wearing an oversized pink sweater with a crude dog sewn on the front, a pair of old, faded blue sweat pants and slippers that were so old they were almost worn through. Her hair, while gorgeous, was an utter mess of thin, black strands that looked like it needed a rake more than a comb.

“You said you wouldn’t judge!” Scarlet objected, the whine clear in her voice.

“I thought you meant because you were going to stop being a bat,” Violet said.

“You promised!” Scarlet said, her eyes focused over Violet’s shoulder.

Violet paused for a moment before, very slowly, a grin formed on her lips. She gently swirled the knife in her hand before snickering. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“I left my glasses on the desk…” Scarlet said softly.

Violet couldn’t help it. She burst into another fit of giggles. Okay, how was this the ‘ultimate monster of the night?’ This had to be a joke. She had way too many broken bones and near death experiences from other vampires to believe any of this. Yet, here it was. Well, at least she was right on one count. This girl did seem to be harmless.

“Fine, come on. Let’s go get your glasses,” Violet said before sheathing her knife on her hip. “Can you see the stairs?”

“I’ll be fine, mostly,” Scarlet said softly. Violet could only barely suppress her chuckle when she watched the vampire struggling to make her way to the stairs and climb up them, gripping the handrail tightly. “What was that spell you did? Why did you have to drip blood on my dirt?”

“I’ll tell you once you have your glasses,” Violet said before snickering again. “I can’t really keep a straight face when you’re like this. Don’t get any smart ideas about attacking me, though.”

“I wouldn’t,” Scarlet said softly.

Of course, once they were back in the room with the computer, Violet couldn’t stop chuckling again when she saw the girl feebly groping around the desk until she found her glasses. She knew it was impolite to laugh at this, but it was just so incredibly mundane and simple. She never would have expected to see a vampire of all things doing it.

“So then,” Violet said before standing up as straight as she could and trying to look intimidating and confident. Maybe a little competent, too. “Are you familiar with how a vampire servant works?”

“Uhhhhh… kind of,” Scarlet said. “I have one.”

Violet stopped for a moment, struggling to piece that together. “Wait, you do? How? I never fought them. Is it their night off? Do vampire servants get that?”

“I mean, technically I do,” Scarlet said softly. “But she doesn’t really listen to me. It makes them stronger, faster, heal better, kind of immortal. Right?”

“Uhhhhh, I mean, yes,” Violet said. “But, on top of that, it binds them to your will. They have to obey you and--” Scarlet scoffed at that. “What?”

“She never listens to me,” Scarlet said softly. “Are you sure?”

“I mean, I was,” Violet said. “Maybe you did it wrong. Who?”

“My agent,” Scarlet mumbled. “But Jasmine never listens to anything I tell her to do anyway. She always rolls her eyes.”

“Of course,” Violet said before rolling her own eyes. She wasn’t surprised if this Jasmine struggled to respect this particular vampire. Especially if she was this helpless. “The spell I did was kind of like a reverse of that. Instead of binding me to your will, instead I bound you to my will. Kind of. For example, you can’t even hurt me. Go ahead, try to slap me.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“What?” Scarlet asked.

“Slap me,” Violet said with a smug smirk on her face. “Don’t worry, you won’t be able to.”

“I’d really rather not try,” Scarlet said. “What if I hurt you?”

Violet blinked a few times. What kind of vampire was this? It was going from amusing to kind of sad. “It won’t hurt me, I promise. Go ahead, try.”

“Are you sure it won’t hurt you?” Scarlet asked.

Violet rolled her eyes. Maybe she was just pretending to be super sweet? That had to be it. No vampire was this sweet. “Just do it. Don’t worry, the spell will protect me. It won’t hurt you, either.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Scarlet said nervously before walking closer and lifting up a hand. She then paused and pulled her hand back. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Of course,” Violet said. “The spell ensures you can’t hurt me. I promise.”

“Well, okay,” Scarlet said before her hand lashed out.

It struck Violet across the face, so hard her head was left ringing and she spun full around, wobbling across the floor before slamming into the wall. What? WHAT?!

Violet laid there for a few moments, her vision blurry while Scarlet stared down at her. She didn’t feel so good. That didn’t make any sense. It shouldn’t have hit her. She shouldn’t have…

Oh.

Oh this wasn’t good. Her vision was darkening. No. Oh no.

She’d messed up. She hadn’t done the spell right. She couldn’t pass--

Darkness enveloped her.

------

Violet’s eyes shot open and she quickly took stock of her situation. She was in bed. There was a bunch of equipment besides her. A torture device of some kind? Wait, smelling salts? Someone was standing over her in a lab coat. “Miss Averchie?” the man asked.

“What?” Violet asked.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. Jasmine? She’s up,” the man said.

“What?” Violet asked before looking around. She wasn’t in a torture chamber. She was in a hospital room. She could see the sun outside through a window. What time was it? Early morning?

“Thank you,” a woman said before coming into view. Violet couldn’t help cringing.

The woman was tall with short, blond hair. And despite her smile, looked like she wanted to tear Violet’s head off with her bare hands. Not that she looked strong enough to do it, but more like she could and would do it by sheer strength of will. The woman gave the doctor a small wave before turning her focus back on Violet.

“Well, ‘niece’, I hope you’re feeling pretty stupid after that act of sheer idiocy,” the woman said.

“What? Niece?” Violet asked. “Scarlet?”

“Ah, you can hear,” the woman said. “And no. My name is Jasmine. You’re Violet, I take it? You know, most hunters don’t tell the thing they’re hunting to hit them in the head. You’re lucky to still be alive. That bruise covered half your face before I had them take care of it.”

Violet blinked a few times. Wait, what? What had happened? She told Scarlet to hit her? Right, because-- wait. She was still alive. She’d passed out and she was still alive? The vampire hadn’t finished her off? Wait, Jasmine? “You’re Scarlet’s agent?”

“Oh, she told you about me?” Jasmine asked. “Good to know you two had a little chit chat. Now you and I are going to have a little chit chat.”

“She’s a vampire, unregistered and--”

“Violet Antonsen, formerly Kent, or did you prefer Kenny?” Jasmine asked, making her cringe. “We’ll stick with Violet, then. Granddaughter of Sofia Antonsen. Now working as a free agent and government approved hunter, barely. Most well known for an incident involving awakening a hydra down in Grapeland Swamps, after which you nearly lost your license? Since then you’ve only had a few successful cases and nearly been arrested three times?”

Violet squeaked and pulled the hospital blanket up tightly. “I’ve just been in a bit of a slump. The swamp thing wasn’t that big, it just got a lot more publicity than it should have. Nobody even died.”

“You also broke into an older estate and assaulted the owner,” Jasmine said.

“She was a vampire, it--”

“Can you prove it?” Jasmine asked, cutting her off. “Because it looks like, to me, that a disgraced hunter saw things that weren’t there and got ahead of herself, breaking into someone’s home before falling down some stairs in the dark, only for me to have to rush them to a hospital. Now she’s desperately claiming that there’s a vampire there in order to get out of having charges pressed on her.”

Violet gave a light, nervous gulp. She was pretty sure that story wouldn’t stick. Probably. Maybe? But there was something else about Jasmine. She seemed the kind of woman who wouldn’t let just the one thing not stick. She’d find a lot of other things, as many as necessary, to destroy her. In fact, there was something about Jasmine that made her suspect the woman wouldn’t stop until she was utterly shattered, one way or another, if she didn’t get her way. She wondered if this woman was the actual vampire. It made so much more sense.

“I’ll take your silence as a no,” Jasmine said. “Then how about this. Instead of the disgraced hunter, instead my clumsy niece fell down some stairs and hurt herself. We get you out of here and we all have a little talk about what you did and didn’t see?”

“I think I like that one more,” Violet said softly.

“I thought you might,” Jasmine said. “I swear, what were you thinking?”

“Scarlet isn’t registered,” Violet said softly.

“Of course she’s not,” Jasmine said. “She’s a fourth generation from Vlad. It’s hard enough to get a normal vampire from a simple bloodline registered. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get one from one that’s so well known and hated? Even deniers would be frightened of that.”

Violet blinked a few times. Vlad? As in Vlad the Impaler? DRACULA? “She’s a FOURTH generation from--”

“Shhh,” Jasmine shushed her before glancing towards the door. “It’s complicated. But she is. Now then, if you’ll keep your mouth shut, we’ll get out of here and the three of us can have a little talk.”

Violet nodded numbly. She wanted to say more, but frankly she was mostly surprised she was still alive. “She didn’t kill me.”

“Of course she didn’t,” Jasmine said. “I wanted to, but she was terrified.”

Violet nervously chuckled, but any humor quickly died when she realized that Jasmine likely wasn’t joking.

Yes, this woman was definitely far, far closer to what she expected from a vampire.