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((i'm working on this, now, after about half a year of total wirter's block))
A heavy, steady rain fell upon ancient ruins, dripping from one giant slab of stone to the next and forming in deep, clear puddles. It fell upon plants, wetting the new leaves of budding flowers and bending dark grasses with each fat droplet. As it grew steadily heavier, it pelted against the sturdy wood of trees that had outlasted even the ruins. There were no animals, for they had already run for shelter. There were no insects, for they had felt not the rain coming, but the cause of it. It was not a natural rain, and every creature knew it.
Two hooded figures stood in the rain, followed by a dark creature seemingly made of shadows, transparent but solid at the same time. One hooded figure was immensely taller than the other, and a black tail with a deadly spade at the end writhed from beneath the hem of his cloak. From beneath his shadowy hood, a pair of glowing violet eyes stared narrowly out at all he saw, catching every detail as his ears caught every sound. He looked down at his companion and spoke, his voice breaking the steady pattern of the downpour.
"We don't need the cover anymore, Marlene. There is no one here to see us," he said. His voice was rough and intimidating, but like velvet at the same time. Marlene, the person who was responsible for the rain, took her hood off and nodded. Her eyes were bright green, with blue around the edges, and no discernable pupil. Her hair was cut at the neckline, with forelocks and a rim of bangs hanging over her brow. It was the same color as her eyes, and could immediately identify her as an Aquamancer.
She held out her hand, closed in a fist, and turned it over. When she opened her palm, the rain began to lessen, and finally stopped completely. The shadow creature behind her hissed in displeasure, not enjoying the sun. Marlene looked back at it, scowling.
"If you dislike the sun so much, Shadow, go back to where you came from," she said, using the archaic language of Necromancers. She received a hissed reply, but Shadow, the creature, vanished anyway. Her tall companion put his hand on her shoulder, revealing sharp claws.
"Your rain was heavier than usual," he said. "Is something bothering you?"
"You know me too well, my friend."
"I know you too well? Or do I know Aquamancers in general?"
She smiled. Even though she couldn't see the expression he was wearing underneath his hood, she knew it was his trademark fanged smirk, the one that every human girl would die to see just once in her lifetime. She felt his unnaturally warm hand leave her shoulder and she sighed. He was right. Something had been bothering her, and it had been tugging at her coattails ever since she'd left home.
"You are right, though, Dante. Something is bothering me," she said, staring straight ahead. "You know why I left, right?"
"Your rite of passage. You left to become a full Aquamancer, like your mother, instead of remaining a fledgling. Of course, I got dragged into this and had to become your guardian for the whole journey."
"You say that like it's a bad thing. Our mothers are friends, if you hadn't remembered."
"Were friends. I don't know if you remember, but my mother is a ghost."
"Ghost or not, she's still my mother's friend."
"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you or not?"
"Are you going to listen or complain about having to be my guardian?"
He rolled his violet eyes beneath his hood and exhaled deeply. His tail twitched, flexing and unflexing the spade and the barbs that edged it. His wings shuffled beneath his cloak, sending heavy ripples all the way down.
"I'll listen…" he grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Good," she said, pausing for a few seconds. "Lately I've been having strange dreams."
"Haven't we all?"
"I thought you said you would listen."
Dante threw his arms up in surrender. She wasn't scary when she was happy, but when Marlene was mad, there were very few things that would get in her way, and those that did were either very brave, very stupid, or both. He was strong enough to subdue her, even when she was angry, but if he harmed the person he was guarding then the penalties would be severe.
"They're not like your weird dreams, Dante. One in particular that's been bothering me has been occurring more and more."
"And what's this particular dream like?"
"It's depressing. Just an empty, barren stretch of ground, with nothing to be seen either direction. It's windy, and I can't move. In the dream, I close my eyes, thinking that relaxing would help me to be able to move. But, when I open them, everything that was empty is now covered in bloody corpses, drenched in water. In my hands, I can feel cold steel. I look down, and I'm holding two massive blades. Just as I realize I was the one who massacred what appears to be an entire army, I wake up—"
"Screaming."
"No, I don't—"
"No, 'screaming' as in 'I hear screaming.' It's coming from up ahead."
Marlene focused her attention ahead of her and thought she could hear it, too. She took a hesitant step towards the direction of the sound, but needed to walk no more. Whoever was producing the screaming came running headlong down the road, covering their head with their arms. There was no visible assailant, but every few seconds a small wound would open up on the person's flesh. Marlene was pretty sure that she was the only one who knew what was doing the attacking.
"Dante, can you see them?"
"See what?"
"I didn't think so. Look at the arms. See how small cuts open up for no apparent reason?"
Dante was silent as he peered out from under his hood. He slid the weighty thing off his head—revealing a messy tangle of black hair and smooth, sharp horns—and looked closer at the victim stampeding towards them. He could see what she was talking about, now; the small wounds appeared to be bite marks, as if little vampiric creatures were hovering over the person's head.
"Looks like it's a girl being attacked by vampire ghosts," he said, brushing a chunk of hair out of his face. It fell right back into place and he ignored it.
"Not vampiric ghosts at all. They look like shadow imps. There's probably a Necromancer in whatever area she came from."
"Well, don't you think we should stop observing and help her?"
"Sounds like a plan, but you'll need to be able to see them."
Dante charged first, his cloak flying out behind him like an imposing shadow. His tail flexed, forcing the barbs out of the spade at the end. He moved silently, making much less noise than even a mouse on a thick carpet. Marlene stayed behind, palms together and eyes closed, as if praying. A string of summoning words flowed out of her mouth and a large symbol glowed beneath her feet. When the symbol reached its brightest point, large cracks shot out around it and a small army of undead things crawled out of the cracks. With eerily glowing eyes and mouths, they moaned and gnashed their rotting teeth. The foul stench of decay rose in the air, so powerful that the plants the undead abominations walked upon withered and died. They were varied in appearance, ranging in size from short to tall, and in shape from fat and fleshy to bone-thin and lanky. All of them shared the same rotting flesh and random protruding bones.
Marlene lifted her hand and sent out a telepathic command. With a united moan, the abominations began to stumble forward, some dropping pieces of flesh and bone as they moved. Dante looked back at the small, slow horde of rot that followed him. He was the first to reach the girl, and began swinging wildly and blindly at whatever was attacking her. He felt one of the invisible things bite him, and a powerful stinging went up his arm. He grabbed the girl and pulled her under his cloak, no questions asked, and shielded her from the shadow imps. Undaunted, the imps began attacking his cloak, shredding little holes in it and ripping up the edges.
The abominations reached the scene where Dante was protecting the stranger, and they began to swat at the imps. The imps turned their attention to the undead things attacking them, biting and clawing at the easily-tearing flesh. The undead served their purpose, oozing pus and blood onto the imps and making them visible.
Dante, you can see them now. I hope you don't mind a bit of blood and pus as an identifying mark, but that's all I had on hand, Marlene thought to Dante.
I can see that. Gross as it is, I appreciate the help. Can you summon something a little more… pleasant, to get this girl out of here?
Sure thing. Marlene bent to the ground and drew something in the wet dirt. It was the same symbol as before, but it didn't glow. Not yet, anyway. She reached into her pack and pulled out a small dagger, making a small cut in her palm amidst multiple scars from similar events. A few fat droplets of blood fell onto the center of the symbol and something seemed to take hold of them. The blood followed the contours of the symbol and sank into the ground, making a burn-mark on the mud. She stepped back and watched as a slightly less disgusting creature pulled itself from the ground. It was the same thing as Shadow, only slightly friendlier and a little more solid. There was a slight difference in appearance, too, since it didn't have the same mane-like outline on its back that Shadow had.
"Do you think you can help us? We need to get a girl a safe distance away from this fight."
The shadow nodded and headed towards Dante to rescue the girl from her makeshift shelter. When it reached them, the shadow simply slid through the cloak as if it wasn't there at all. Dante nodded and handed the girl off, then removed his cloak and grabbed at the first pus-and-blood-covered imp his hand came in contact with. He growled at it, and when it finished spilling its body fluids, he squeezed it like an insect between his fingers and let the gory, pint-sized corpse drop to the ground. The rest of the imps swarmed him, biting and clawing at his skin. He swatted them away like worthless pests, crushing one's skull in is hand and ripping another's body limb from limb.
Marlene rushed over to the side of the girl and the shadow, checking on the bite marks that ran up and down the girl's arm.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I don't know… what are those things? Why were they attacking me?" the girl asked, frightened. She hugged herself and shivered, more out of terror than anything else.
"They're shadow imps. I'd say that there was a Necromancer who summoned them, but I can't tell you why they were attacking you."
"My arms… they sting…"
The girl passed out against Marlene from the weak venom in the imps' bites. It wasn't strong enough to kill anyone, but it was painful and would render a victim unconscious. The shadow sniffed at the wounds, pausing at one that didn't look like it came from one of the imps.
What is it? Is that an imp-bite?
The shadow shook its head and pointed a claw at the bite. Marlene took the girl's arm in her hands and looked at the wound. It was two holes, spaced about the size of a man's canines, with a little bit of clear, thick liquid running down.
"It looks like a vampire bite… The venom's there, too… Do you think she's infected?" she asked, looking at the answer in the shadow's eyes. "She'll probably turn within a few nights, if she is. Look, here's another one on her neck."
She pointed to another vampire bite close to the girl's jugular vein, also dripping with vampire venom. The shadow hissed and narrowed its already thin eyes. Its tail twitched irritably, and it sat like an angered cat.
"She'll probably turn sooner, then. I'd wager about a night until she either becomes a vampire or dies."
The shadow hissed again and backed away. Marlene rolled her eyes at the ridiculous behavior and dismissed it. She watched as it sank into the ground and looked up as she heard Dante's footsteps. She could tell he was casual now, because if he was still defensive, she wouldn't have heard him.
"So, how's the stranger doing?" he asked, crouching next to them.
"Well, she's passed out from the imp-bites, but it looks like that wasn't all that bit her. Look, there's a vampire bite on her arm and her neck."
"And they're both dripping venom. Two bites… it'll probably kill her instead of turning her. It usually happens like this. Did you get a name out of her?"
Marlene shook her head. "No. She passed out before I could. If she's got dripping bites and was attacked by shadow imps, then that's definitely not a good sign."
"Do you think the vampires and Necromancers are working together?"
"I'm not going to assume anything, but that's probably a pretty safe guess. It looks like this rite of passage is going to take a little longer than we planned."
"Let me guess… you're going to drag us into all of this, and no matter how much I object, I'll still end up going with you."
"You are my guardian, aren't you?"
"And, unfortunately, your best friend."
"It won't hurt to have a little adventure. I'm sure no one would mind if we managed to weed out something before it becomes a major thorn in our sides."
"And what if we get killed?"
"You're part angel, part demon, part elf, and part vampire. I doubt we'll have to worry about you getting killed anytime soon."
Dante rolled his violet eyes and growled low in his throat. He knew that arguing with her would get him no further than this, and he knew he would follow her if she left without him out of sheer worry. While he was nigh indestructible, she was vulnerable to the rest of the world and would stand no chance with just her Necromancing and Aquamancing abilities. Either way, he would end up going of his own will despite his reluctance.
"Well, we should at least try and get to the nearest town or something and see if we can get a medic. Maybe someone will know how to cure vampire bites."
"Marlene, vampires have been around for thousands of years, and they will continue to stay around for thousands of years. I doubt anyone will know of a cure now or ever."
"Still, it's worth a shot. I know that there's a cure for imp-bites, though, and at least we'll be able to get those out of the way."
Dante just nodded, throwing some of his messy hair into his face. Marlene laughed when he lifted his head, pointing out that it looked like a black blanket for two violet-haired people. He stuck his tongue out at her and stood, helping her with the stranger. They lifted the girl onto his back and he carried her like that, folding his arms under her legs to hold her up. Marlene lifted her hood over her head again, but didn't make the rain fall. She didn't want the girl to suffer a cold as well as vampire and imp-bites, and they didn't need the cover at the moment.

š ›

After a few hours of uneventful travel, Marlene, Dante, and the still-unconscious stranger came upon a desolate scene; blood-spattered ground and ravaged caravans. There were claw marks everywhere; in the dirt, on the wooden skeletons of caravan wagons, and on any and every rock. There were footprints, ripped canvas, drag marks, and signs of out-of-control wagon wheels. But, amidst all the chaos, there was one thing that Marlene didn't see, and that was what bothered her.
"Dante," she said, nudging him. "Look at this."
"It looks like a ravaged caravan. No doubt it was attacked."
Marlene rolled her eyes at the sarcasm in his tone and the all-too-obvious statement.
"Okay, now look at what isn't there. See anything important?"
"Nope. Nothing."
"Bodies. There aren't any bodies. Not even scraps of bone or anything. Either they were eaten whole, or…"
"Or this is where the Necromancers and vampires were."
"Exactly. I'd be willing to bet that this girl came from this caravan, and the imps were probably sent after her in order to keep her from relaying what she saw."
"And because whoever summoned them figured she'd pass out from the bites and probably be eaten by something, they were more worried about removing the bodies from the scene of the crime."
"Or, they took the bodies with them. From the looks of these drag marks, not all of the victims were dead."
"So, the Necromancers get the dead, and the vampires get the living. One gets a power source, and the other gets an all-you-can-eat buffet. Sounds like a pretty mutualistic relationship, to me."
"But, it's likely that one of them will get too power-hungry and go after the other."
"The only question is, which one will crack first?"
"That's the biggest question. There's also why they've teamed up, what they're planning to do, and how they're willing to accomplish it. I doubt we'll get any information from townspeople, and if we do, it'll cost us."
"This whole adventure will cost us, and you're more worried abut the price of information?" Dante said, somewhat bewildered. He looked down at his shorter companion with a raised eyebrow.
Marlene just rolled her eyes at him again. She bent down to the ground and performed a slightly more complicated ritual. A small pack of hellhounds dug their way up to the surface and listened to her commands. They began searching the wreck cite, sniffing out any clues to piece together the attack. Their bony tails were still as they pawed around, easily jumping onto and over obstacles with their scrawny bodies. One of them stopped and began scratching at the ground near a wrecked wagon, whining and looking back at Marlene.
She took the hint and jogged to the hound, kneeling next to it and helping to dig whatever it had found. Dante looked on and watched. Marlene suddenly jumped and shrieked, running back to cower behind Dante. She peeked around him as the hellhound began barking at nothing in particular.
"What? What is it?" Dante asked, ready to attack something.
"It's a spider," Marlene said, stepping next to him.
He looked a little stupefied at his companion's reaction to a spider. "You summon undead things and demons and all that, and you don't bat an eyelash, but when you see a spider, suddenly you're screaming at the top of your lungs and cowering behind me! Geez, we better hope that no one decides to drop a fake spider on you during a fight, or we're all screwed over!"
"Sh-shut up!" she stuttered. "I've had bad childhood experiences!"
Dante just rolled his eyes and went over to investigate. "It's not even a big spider!"
"It's a tarantula! How is that not a big spider?!"
"Maybe to you it is, but I could crush that under my heel without even noticing it."
"Well, I'm not a seven-foot-tall demon-boy, am I?"
"Neither am I. I'm only six feet."
"Smartass…"