Colored Crimson: A Hunter's Tale

The winds picked up in the deserts of Arizona once more, even as the
lone traveler stalked across the warm
sands. From above, he would have appeared to be a black shape moving
steadily across the sands towards
ancient, rusting towers in the distance. At close range, one would see
the black cloak worn over his body,
protecting him from the biting, sand-laced winds. Underneath this
cloak, it was apparent that he wore some
form of an armor. This armor was black and gleamed with an almost
metallic shine. It was arranged in
attaching pieces, as opposed to one full suit of armor. Over this armor
he wore black leather belts and
straps. Each of these belts and straps held holsters and various
devices. Amongst these items were two
.45 Peacemakers, similar to what gunslingers used, as well as grenades
and stakes of wood sharpened at
one end. On his feet, he had polished, black leather boots. Both boots
had a sheath strapped to them. In
each of these sheathes was a sharpened hunting knife.

His name was Jonathan Black, and he was a hunter of a most elusive
prey. His quarry was a predator in its
own right. This predator/prey was the species nosferatu, or rather the
vampire. This was not his first
mission, nor would it be his last. Only months before, he had entered
the city of Drake, Arizona. He took on
a number of vampires, but he most certainly didn't kill them all. He
wasn't heading back to Drake, even
though he didn't finish his job. Now he was heading toward another of
the rusting sprawls of the former
state of Arizona. Long ago perhaps it was a flourishing metropolis. Now
it was but another den of evil, and
the only person to blame for all of this was a terrorist only known as
Psychosis.

He reached the city limits around dusk, and glanced at a rusted highway
sign as he walked along an
uncovered, asphalt road. The sign, formerly reflective green but now
faded, had the words 'Greystone,
Arizona' printed in white on its surface. The symbol for anarchy was
sprayed in black spray paint over it. It
was presumably done by some long-dead joker.

He stepped into the shadows of an alleyway between two shattered
storefronts, and awaited the change of
light into darkness as the sun began to set. Soon the creatures that
inhabited this city would be moving
throughout the city, going about their daily mockery of life.

He amused himself while waiting by going over the information he knew
about this city. According to scouts,
it was populated by twenty to thirty of the undead. They managed to
stock a larder with humans they
captured within the city, and perhaps those that have traveled in from
the sands for shelter. He also had
some spotty information on some strange breeding program to keep that
larder stocked. All in all, it was
not a pleasant situation. He hoped to remedy that, although it would be
tough to do as he was one man
against quite a few superhuman creatures. Perhaps he'd even the odds
tonight though.

The sun finally set and the cold of night was upon the city once more.
His well-trained eyes picked up a
quick movement across the street as a pale shape exited a doorway. His
right hand carefully un-holstered
one of his Peacemakers, and screwed a small cannister on the end.

---

His human name had been Edward, but the creature exiting the doorway of
a former convenience store liked
to go by the name of Caesar, after the Roman emperor. He felt the pangs
of hunger as his feet lightly
touched the pavement, and he wished for the sweet taste of blood. He
didn't realize that soon he would be
gone from this world.

---

Jonathan grinned at the unsuspecting creature and watched it move in
the alleyway. He took aim at the
shape as it began to exit the alleyway, and then his finger curled
around the trigger. With a quick twitch of
his finger, the cannister was fired from the gun and sent flying
through the air at the shape. In mid-air it
split open with a soft hiss, and an almost invisible net expanded out
of its remains. The net hit the creature
solidly, and wrapped around it, weighted by the two halves of the
cannister. The creature fell to the ground.

As the creature began to recover from its unexpected attack and
capture, Jonathan was standing over it.
The 'creature' was a pale man, roughly nearing six feet in height, and
he had an almost malnourished look
to him. He was dressed in a ragged, black shirt tucked into black
jeans. He wore no shoes.

Jonathan drew the knife strapped to his right boot, and he told the
creature in an almost compassionate
voice, although it was tinged with the coldness of his hatred, "We can
do this the easy way, or the hard
way, friend. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll consider going easy
on you."

The creature let out a snake-like hiss before it spoke, "You shall not
survive either way. My death will be
final. You will die a thousand times in unspeakable agony for your
crimes, hunter."

Jonathan grinned, "So our armor is recognizable to your kind by now.
Good."

He sheathed his knife again, and took a small, metal container from the
folds of his cloak, "Unfortunately, I
would have preferred participation, but I'll be glad to kill you
anyway." He didn't let the creature answer
before he poured the container's contents on the foul thing's body. He
used his boot to break the
creature's jaw with a swift kick, then put the container back in the
folds of his cloak. After all, good metal
wasn't easy to come by these days. He pulled a match from a box kept
near the container, struck it on the
pavement next to the thing's soulless eyes, and stared at the
flickering flame for a moment. Then he threw
the lit match on the creature. The flames leapt up swiftly and the
sound of burning, crackling flesh was
audible as he made his exit. He didn't intend to get caught. At least
not yet.

He continued his trek further into the cities, keeping to the shadows
as he silently moved. After several
hours of travel, he heard a disturbance in the distance then the
distinct bark of gunfire. The rhythmic
clapping of someone running reached his ears and he turned to see a
young girl fleeing three pale creatures.
All were dressed in black suits, except for the young girl, who was
dressed in a tattered, grey dress. She
was sobbing uncontrollably even as she ran, and the creatures were
gaining on her.

Jonathan un-holstered both Peacemakers, and stepped out of the shadows
as the girl neared. She let out a
shriek of fright at the sight of the cloaked man with guns, but quickly
recovered enough to run into one of
the nearby buildings as the creatures were distracted by the appearance
of someone new.

Jonathan didn't speak a word as the creatures slowed to a halt, but
instead he pulled the triggers of both
guns, aiming for the heart of one and the head of another. Orange,
curling flame leapt from the barrels of
the guns in the darkness of the night, and the sickening, shattering
sound of the skull of one of the
creatures unnerved the other two. The creature on the right fell to the
ground, clutching the ruined remains
of his head as blood, brain matter, and bits of bone covered the
cracked cement of the street. The other he
aimed for had luckily gotten out of the way of his other bullet.

The other two didn't waste time for their fallen comrade, but instead
leapt towards the cloaked man. Their
black lips curled to reveal long fangs and their eyes flashed with the
crimson life of the ones they fed on as
well as their rage.

Jonathan had time to fire a shot at one of the creatures. He hit it in
the chest even as the second one
slammed into him and sent him sprawling. He dropped one of his guns,
and looked up in time to see a fist
swinging out of the darkness. It struck him in the stomach, hitting the
kevlar strips there and shattering
the creature's hand. It also sent him to the ground, and stunned for
the moment. As the creature beared
down on him, revealing its fangs and dripping foul spittle on his
armor, Jonathan reached for a stake with
his left hand.

The creature hissed at the foolish human, "Look at what you did to my
comrade, you freak!"

Jonathan's eyes flickered with amusement as his hand closed around the
stake, "Funny you should call me a
freak, foul one."

The creature raised its arm to deal the killing blow, and said its
damning words, "Your death will bring me
much accord."

Then as its hand swung through the air, Jonathan stabbed upward at the
creature's heart. The stake
pierced through the plate of bone and destroyed the still pumping heart
of one long dead. Its hand fell
uselessly on his chest, and then blood poured slowly out of the
creature's once again lifeless eyes, as if it
were crying.

He flung the creature aside, and recovered one of his guns. He looked
for the other, but was stopped short
by the sound of someone cocking the hammer of it. He looked at where he
judged the sound to be, and
saw the pale creature he shot in the chest holding it. The creature's
red eyes narrowed. Jonathan's eyes
caught movement behind the creature, "And you forgot something, as
well."

The creature went to pull the trigger and, as he did so, something
slammed into his arm. The bullet was
fired several feet to the right of Jonathan as the creature turned to
see the girl he and his comrades had
been chasing standing there. She had a crowbar in her hand, and it
looked almost comical to see a short,
frail creature holding such a massive thing.

Jonathan used the distraction to get in close, and slammed his fist
into the creature's throat. It gagged
violently and raised its fists to protect itself, but it was too late.
Jonathan tapped his boot hard, and raised
it in the air. He brought it down on the creature's chest, burying a
blade that had popped out near the heel
into the pale thing's heart.

He yanked the blade out when he brought his foot down and, with a quick
tap, he retracted it. He looked at
the young girl and grinned.

"You have some spirit, little girl. Nice work with the crowbar. You can
put it down now.. What's your name?"

The girl clutched the crowbar protectively and spoke in a soft, shy
voice, "Mine now. Name is Joy. Who
you?"

"Jonathan. Um.. Listen.. You know of a safe place around here..
Somewhere away from them."

The girl nodded her head, and began walking towards a rusted over
manhole cover. She pointed at it, and
waited for Jonathan to lift it.

She pointed and said, "Down there. Rats live."

Jonathan watched as the girl climbed down the slimed over ladder, and
then followed. He carefully pulled the
manhole cover over him, casting the sewer in darkness. He pulled out a
small flashlight from one of his
pockets, and pressed the button on it. The light cast a circular beam
in the tunnel, illuminating himself and
the girl. She began heading down the tunnel, into the darkness. He
followed, and his footsteps made soft
splashes in shallow puddles of water as he did so.

The tunnels didn't make him particularly comfortable, even though it
was safer than the alternative of being
amongst the soulless ones. He watched as the light stopped at a point,
and they both continued into the
darkness. Dread circled his head like a vulture waiting to pick at its
meal.

After some time, they reached a small alcove on the right side of the
tunnel. It was a small, cemented
doorway leading off to parts unknown. The door was made of a rusting
metal with peeling flakes of brown
paint on its decrepit form. Joy knocked on the door, letting off a
booming sound in the tunnels. An almost
rat-like squeak penetrated the door's structure, and Joy replied with a
similar squeak before the door
opened with the harsh, rusty wail of its hinges turning.

Jonathan followed Joy through the doorway and his fell on their new
location. The doorway led into a similar
tunnel to this one, except the new tunnel was dimly lit with flickering
flourescent lighting. The door
somehow shut behind them, startling the young vampire hunter for a
moment, but Joy moved on. Jonathan
followed down the slightly dryer tunnel, hoping his journey would end
soon. The only sound he heard as
they walked were the sounds of water dripping and the rhythm of their
footsteps.

---

Meanwhile...

The two pale men, both of them dressed in the black robes of a
clergyman, were unnerved as they stood
over the remains of four separate corpses. Three were found together,
while the fourth was found near the
city outskirts. The fourth was charred to nothing, except for a
blackened skeleton. The other three were
killed by bullet fire and stab wounds.

This was not a good thing. Not in the very least. Both men knew what
these four corpses meant. A hunter
was here, in the city. They also knew that if their knowledge was
accurate, then this hunter was the one
who had hit Drake, Arizona only a few months ago.

One of them left to inform the others, while the remaining one stared
at the burned corpse and shuddered.
This was not at all good.

---

The journey ended at another doorway. It was similar to the other one,
except freshly painted and likely
reinforced. Joy knocked on this one, and then made another rat-like
squeak. It was replied with by a similar
sound. The door swung open to reveal a dark shape in the doorway. It
stepped forward and Jonathan's
heart rate quickened as he recognized something wrong about the figure
moving toward them. The girl
rushed forward, dropping the crowbar, and moving to hug the
person.

Jonathan shouted, "No!"

---

The pale ones gathered at the edge of the alley where three of their
own had been slain by some human.
Rage filled their hearts and crimson filled their eyes as they thought
of the murdering human within their
territory. They split into groups, intending to search out the arrogant
human. The hunt was on..

---

The dark shape lifted the girl up with its massive, yet sickly pale
arms and his fingernails tore into her skin.
Jonathan moved to grab his gun from its holster, but something slammed
into his back and he was sent to
the ground. The dark shape, revealing itself to be a six foot tall,
pale man with grey eyes and black lips, was
dressed in a black suit. Its teeth extended past its lips, and then he
plunged them into the girl's throat. She
let out a piercing wail as her blood was drawn from her body, but soon
shuddered and remained silent.

Jonathan cursed under his breath and reached for one of his knives. He
was stopped by the sight of black
boots near his face. He looked up to see a grey-skinned man dressed in
a grey shirt and jeans. The man
hissed quietly before lifting Jonathan up by the front of his
armor.

Jonathan brought his foot up in a kicking motion, and his boot impacted
with the creature's groin. This
brought out a painful gasp of air from the creature, but it didn't drop
the human. The creature merely
tightened his grip on the hunter's armor as the other one dropped the
remains of the girl and moved
forward. The sounds of footsteps suddenly reached Jonathan's ears as a
group of things entered the sewer
tunnel behind him. The vampire's grey eyes widened in shock.

---

They were all wearing grey, tattered clothing and their skin was in
varying shades of pink, tan, and brown.
They were humans and the only survivors in this city of the former
state of Arizona. Each carried sharpened
metal stakes and each wore a cross around their neck. This nameless
group stalked the sewer tunnels,
heading towards their home. They were prepared for battle after years
of hiding and being the prey. As they
entered the last tunnel, they came upon a cloaked figure being held in
the air by one of the pale ones.
Another pale man was shambling towards the two and the remains of a
little girl were visible behind the
second pale man.

The cloaked man was dropped to the ground by the surprised creature.
Then the survivors charged into
battle, holding out their stakes with pride.

---

Jonathan rolled out of the way of the charging humans, and drew his gun
as he neared the slimy wall of the
sewer tunnel. He watched as one of the grey-garbed humans slammed a
metal stake through the chest of
the one that had been holding him captive only seconds before.

The pale creature screamed in agony as blood spurted out of his chest.
His attacker screamed in primal rage
before using his stake to toss the dying creature aside. The other one
managed to rip the skull of one of
the humans, and began to go into a feeding frenzy over the blood. The
last thing it felt other than the
warmth of its victim's blood was the cold of metal piercing his back
and destroying his heart.

---

The survivors celebrated their victory with a number of shouts, before
the lead one, a black man of about
age forty, turned to Jonathan. He looked him over, and the cold glare
in his eyes seemed to challenge
Jonathan to make a move. The lead survivor nodded, "Yeah.. Something
like that.. Who're you?"

Jonathan glanced at the remains of the vampires, "Jonathan. And that,"
he gestured at Joy's lifeless
remains, "..was Joy."

Jonathan took one of the discarded metal stakes from the floor and
moved toward her remains, "Don't want
her getting back up, 'cause it seems.." he spoke even as he pounded the
stake into the heart of the corpse
of the girl, "..you folks had a problem with that.."

The man shuddered at the seemingly callous way Jonathan went about
taking care of the girl's remains,
"Guess it helps to have no heart when you do what you do.."

Jonathan nodded as he brushed his hands off, "Yeah.. Something like
that.. How about you folks tell me
some stuff I want to know now.."

---

Meanwhile two of the many pale creatures paced back and forth in front
of what was once the police
headquarters of Greystone. Dread washed over each of them as they
guarded the location of something
they held as valuable. Trouble was afoot in Greystone, and they knew
that soon the murderer might arrive
to save its own. Humans were funny like that, although neither of the
creatures could understand the
significance of saving the lives of others. They were both prepared
even if they didn't understand humans.
Each of them carried a 9 mm Glock, held in a holster on their right
sides. There was a clatter near the corner
of the building, startling both of them. They turned to see what it
was..

---

Jonathan crept through the sewer tunnels underneath the downtown area
of Greystone. He had his
Peacemakers un-holstered and loaded. From what the leader of the 'Rats
said, Jonathan got the impression
that the police station in this area was the larder that he had heard
reports of. It was the only guarded
structure in the city, and the vampires seemed to flock to it quite
often.

While he didn't show it to the others back at the home of the 'Rats,
his lonely trek through the sewer
tunnels made him almost filled with sorrow. It was a shame about the
girl. If only he had paid more
attention, but he hadn't. He took his failure to heart, and a single
tear glistened as it fell down his face and
dropped on a discarded newspaper, but he moved on.

---

The two creatures sighed in relief simultaneously as they saw nothing
but a trash can knocked over by the
wind. Litter swirled in the streets before being carried away. They
turned back to their duties, and checked
their guns once again to see if they were loaded.

---

Jonathan climbed up a rusting ladder, and pushed aside a manhole cover.
He peeked up to look around, and
found himself in an alleyway. A knocked over trash can rolled across
the entrance of the alleyway, and he
saw a flicker of movement near the edge of the building.

Jonathan extracted himself from the hole, and stood up. He carefully
checked his guns before moving
quietly towards the edge of the building. Suddenly a white hand flashed
out of a doorway, grabbed his
cloak, and pulled him into the darkness of a building before he could
react.

---

The 'Rats moved along the sewer tunnels, following the tracks of the
man named Jonathan. Some held
metal, foot-long stakes while others carried torches to illuminate the
way. The flickering light cast off the
torches left shadows trailing behind them. Each resembled elongated,
humanoid creatures holding their
weapons of war.

---

The two guards sighed in relief as two creatures dressed as priests
relieved them from duty. They quietly
entered the doorway of the building they were so warily guarding,
heading off for meal.

The two remaining guards held their weapons high, not yet unnerved by
the wind that was picking up, nor
the potential threat of a killer of their kind. They watched the
darkness in silence, waiting for the light of day
to come.

---

Jonathan whirled around to face the person who had grabbed him, only to
see a young girl in a tattered
grey dress. At first, he thought it was Joy, but when his eyes adjusted
he realized that this girl was a few
years older than Joy. Her skin was also quite pale.

His hand rested uneasily on his gun's wooden handle, and he asked,
"Who're you?"

The girl's grey eyes reflected fear for a brief moment, before she
brushed away a brown lock of hair and
said, "Name not needed. You in danger. They know you on way."

Jonathan smirked for a brief instance, before he turned to look at the
doorway he was pulled through. He
turned back to reply, but he found no one there.

"Hello?"

No reply. The girl had disappeared. He shook in his head slowly, before
turning around and heading towards
the doorway.

---

The first of the 'Rats came out of the sewer through manholes. They
carried their weapons in preparation
for battle, and their eyes all glowed with the inhuman rage they felt.
The lead warrior heard a soft tapping
noise, and then something rolled down the street towards him.

---

The pale ones were ready for the 'Rats. They knew trouble was on the
way in one form or another. They
slowly crept around the edges of the buildings, blending into the
darkness with their black clothing. As the
first of the survivors came out of the sewers, they moved in to
attack.

---

A cannister burst open, filling the wind-swept streets with fire as
compressed napalm ignited and spread.
One of the 'Rats caught fire, screaming in agony as his flesh burned.
The sound of his weapon hitting the
pavement was lost to the other 'Rats as they spread out. Each heading
for the dark shapes suddenly
unfolding from the shadows.

---

One of the creatures guarding the police station caught the scent of a
human suddenly, as well as the smell
of oiled weaponry and lighter fluid. He left his companion to watch the
action on the street, and turned the
corner to enter the alleyway. He kept his rifle ready, knowing he'd
have to use it soon enough.

---

Jonathan cursed as he heard the crackle of flames, and screams. He drew
both of his guns, and headed for
the corner where he knew at least one guard was located. His thoughts
raced as he wondered who was
screaming, but he ceased thinking about that as soon as a pale man
dressed as a priest turned the corner,
holding a rifle in his hands.

---

The creatures bared down on the 'Rats as they scattered to attack. One
of the battle-ready creatures leapt
at a man dressed in tattered robes. The man held up a metal stake, and
impaled the foolish creature upon
it. Black ichor streamed down the metal tool as the creature writhed in
utter agony. Another 'Rat brought a
torch to the suffering creature, and set its clothing aflame. Flesh
crackled as the flames covered the
creature's body. The suffering thing was tossed aside, and the 'Rat who
impaled him went on to find more
opponents.

---

The creature now facing Jonathan saw a man dressed in a black cloak,
and very little else. He pulled the
trigger on his rifle, and fired off a shot at where he thought the
cloaked man's chest was. There was the
sound of the bullet impacting with something, and the man was sent
backward.

---

Jonathan winced in pain as the slug slammed into the kevlar over his
chest. He dropped his guns as he
struck the cracked asphalt of the alley, and he heard the far-off sound
of them clattering to the ground. He
reached for one of the knives on his boot as the creature dropped its
gun and leapt for him.

---

The creature, overcome with instinct, dropped its gun and left for the
man. Its talon-like fingernails ached to
shred flesh, and the creature's fangs flashed dangerously as a grin
formed on its face.

---

The creatures and the 'Rats tore into each other with ferocity, neither
accepting a loss. One after another
went down in a spray of blood as human and inhuman alike died at the
hands of the battle-maddened. The
winds swept through the city, carrying off the ashes of the burned and
bringing sand in its place.

---

Jonathan's knife flashed dangerous as the talons ripped into flesh of
his face. Blood streamed into his eyes,
but he kept slashing and stabbing with his knife. Then, even as he felt
increasing weakened, he brought his
knife through the creature's back, piercing the heart and slamming its
tip into the chest plate. Blood poured
out of the wound, even as the creature shuddered in its death throes.
He pushed it off of him, and wiped
his face on his cloak. He heard footsteps as his vision began to grow
dark, and he felt increasing sleepy.
Before he passed out, he looked up to see another pale creature dressed
as a priest.

---

The creature's eyes narrowed at the remains of his partner. He looked
at the cloaked man's unconscious
form, and raised his rifle. A grin formed on his face.

He quietly whispered to himself, "It ends now."

---

The young girl who had tried to warn Jonathan in her own way crept
along the alleyway, carrying one of his
discarded guns. It was heavy in her hands, and gave her a strange sense
of power. She thought to herself
even as she pointed the gun at the pale creature with a rifle, 'For
Joy. For 'Rats. For Him. For All.'

She pulled the trigger.

---

The creature was thrown backward by the bullet, which shattered his
skull into mere fragments. His rifle
clattered to the ground as his body struck with a soft thud. Blood
leaked from the wound, and a single
eyeball stared dimly out at the rest of the world.

---

She was thrown back by the gun's recoil, having barely any strength to
even hold it. She dropped the gun,
and moved towards the unconscious man. As she slowly tried to tend to
the man's wounds, she was dimly
aware of the fact that the sounds of battle had diminished, and the
winds had died down.

A few minutes later, her eyes rested on the east as the sun rose. The
remains of the creature slowly
deteriorated to nothingness, and a man limped into the alleyway. He was
dressed in grey rags, and carried a
blackened stake.

His eyes widened as he saw the girl, and he dropped the stake. He moved
to embrace her, which she didn't
resist.

He spoke in a relieved voice, "My girl.. My little girl.."

She smiled and nodded as her father cried on her shoulder, "Yeah. Me
here."

The man's eyes fell on the unconscious, and somewhat bandaged man. He
calledl over one of
his fellow survivors before continuing to embrace his daughter.