[b][u][center]Two Sides of a Hunter Part 1: The First Taste For Anya_Arctic By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b] The Blood City of Yharnam was as bleak as it was stark, and Nicola couldn’t quite repress a shiver as she stepped into the clinic in the center of town. The sun had guided her so far, but it was on the wane and soon the moon would rise. The further into town she went, the more people seemed to be on the street, and the further the sun set, the more they seemed to stare. There was a madness in their eyes that she was all too familiar with, a madness that she hoped to avoid for herself. The bell above the door tinged softly as she stepped into the clinic, and the pale-skinned woman turned her head left, right, left again as she peered into the dim room. “Hello?” “Hmmm? Who’s this?” The voice was a gruff, old one, halfway between a wheeze and a groan, as if the speaker could use some treatment himself. She hesitated, looking at the half-open door that would lead further into the clinic. Beds were arrayed in rows in there with metal stands that were draped with empty bags, the floorboards stained in various dark colors, almost like a testament to lives brought to an end rather than lives that were saved. Was this the right place? Squeak, squeak, squeak. The door opened the rest of the way before she could decide whether to stay or leave, revealing a bearded man in a wheelchair. With a top hat that obscured most of his face and a raggedy coat that seemed ready to fall off him at any moment, he didn’t exactly inspire confidence. “Ah…a customer.” “Are you the doctor?” Nicola asked. “Yes…Are you here for…” “…Blood ministration,” she said. “Ah, blood ministration. Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place. Follow me.” He turned his wheelchair around and, against her better judgment, Nicola followed him further into the clinic. They passed the empty tables, and even in the darkness, she could tell that the stains on the floor were blood. And there were many, many stains. “What ails you?” he asked her as they made their way further, past overstuffed bookshelves and more. “What brings an outsider like yourself to Yharnam?” “There’s…something else in my blood. Nobody could get it out at home, and…” “And so you came here. Following Paleblood?” She nodded. Paleblood. That was as good a name for it as any, considering what she was dealing with. Paleblood, pale fur. Paleblood, pale fur. She shook her head, drawing herself out of her own inner mantra as she was taken to a private room. The wheelchair-bound doctor gestured to the table, having her lie down on it. She shifted about, trying to get comfortable, her leather trousers riding up between her legs as she shifted from one side to another. Her blouse wasn’t much better, the buttoned-up lace getting wrinkled as she tried to fit herself to the flat metal. The bearded man gently pulled up her sleeve, tapping her arm a few times before nodding to himself. “Well, you are a ripe candidate for treatment. All you need is a contract.” “What’s the contract for?” “A way to repay my ministrations. Just an agreement…” Nicola groaned, but not from the doctor’s push for repayment. No, it was the burning in her veins again, the heat that had started to come again and again. The rushing whisper through her blood, the howl that rushed through her veins like wind between the great spires of the city. She could feel it rising to her head, her jaws clenching again. Paleblood, pale fur. Paleblood, pale fur. “I’ll sign it.” “Alright, girl. Here you go.” It was nothing but a hasty scrawl, but her name was down. The doctor rolled up the paper and set it to the side. “Good, all signed and sealed. Now, let’s begin the transfusion.” He wheeled a metal stand over to her, hanging a vial of blood from it before attaching a tube and needle to it. “Don’t worry. Whatever happens…You may think it all a mere bad dream…” # [i]The world swims around her, the air shimmery and hazy. There is nothing to see, but everything to fear. She can feel the burning voice in her head, the shrieking of the beast that struggles to take her. Nicola fights it, tooth and nail, her mind struggling against the claws that threaten to rip it apart. She can’t move, can’t shift from her bed, but she hears something. Not the doctor, not the soft squeak squeak of his wheelchair, but something else. Something dripping. Something harsher. She turns, sees a puddle of blood on the floor. Where did it come from? No body, no broken vials. Nothing. Nothing but a hand… And an arm… And more that is slowly pulling itself from the puddle. “A beast,” she whispers, barely hearing herself as the ragged, matted muzzle of a wolf soaked in blood slowly pulls itself free. “Oh no…oh no…” She struggles to move, but her body is weak, tired, weary from the transfusion. She feels the heat in her veins pushing at her, the new blood rushing through her, scouring her, healing her, but making her tired. So tired. The beast rises, red as the blood that flows into her arm. She cannot move as it reaches out for her, even as she clenches her fist and feels claws against her palm. Longer, deadlier ones reach for her, a paw rather than a hand, pads on the palm and fur on the fingers and blood, so much blood dripping from the – “RAAAAAAAAAWR!” It screams, bursting into flame, falling away. The blood around it catches fire, incinerating it, burning it to nothingness. Something has saved her? How? Why? She turns her head, just in time to see little white creatures crawling over the edge of the medical bed. They are slight, tiny, with arms so thin that they might be snapped merely by leaning on something. Their faces are wrinkled, their mouths twisted and gaping, missing teeth or having none at all. Some even have mouths that tilt vertically, like the slit between a woman’s legs. And they are all over her…all around her… Shutting out the light… She falls into darkness…[/i] # “Oh…you’ve found yourself a hunter.” Nicola gasped, suddenly jerking upright, her eyes wide as she looked around for signs of the monster, of the little people, of the source of the voice, but there was nothing. Nothing but the room she’d fallen asleep in. Looking down at her arm, she saw that someone had taken the needle away, bandaging the spot where it had been. She lifted it, lowered it. No stiffness, which was something. Better than she expected for a little clinic like this. Shaking her head, she hopped down from the bed, holding out one hand to keep her balance as she almost fell over. “Doctor?” She expected the soft squeak-squeak of the wheelchair, but there was nothing. After a moment’s hesitation, she called out again. “…Doctor?” Again, nothing. Nothing but a wet sound in the distance, now that she was paying attention. It was almost like something crunching on something else, a squelching sort of…biting? It wasn’t a good sound. Shaking her head, she looked around the room. There was the ramp that led down to the rest of the clinic, but there were stairs leading up to some other room, as well. Not wanting to chance whatever was downstairs just yet, she hobbled up the stairs, making her way to the double doors at the far end. One pull told her that it was locked. Wincing, she looked over her shoulder, then knocked as loudly as she dared. Tack, tack. “Who’s there? Are you…are you out on the hunt?” The hunt? What – [i]Oh…you’ve found yourself a hunter.[/i] It hadn’t been this voice, but it was a woman that had said it. And…well, she didn’t know exactly what she had signed for the doctor. Perhaps that was what she was? It wouldn’t have been the first time that she got her hands dirty. “I am,” Nicola said. “Then I’m sorry, but I can’t open this door.” She sounded sad, Nicola thought. “I’m Iosefka, and this is my clinic. My patients…They can’t be exposed to the infections that are rife in town. I’m sorry. I know you hunt for us, but…I’m sorry.” Hunt for them? Infections? There were so many bits and pieces that she didn’t know yet, and this Iosefka wasn’t filling in many of the blanks. Before she could complain, though, a panel in the door opened. No more than a crack, but enough for a little vial to be pushed through. It was gold-rimmed, filled with something red. Red like blood. “All I can do is give you this.” “What is it?” “Healing blood. Take it in moments of need…and if you must, come back, and I will fill it again.” “…” “Go. Please. I can’t do anything more.” The sound of footsteps told her that Iosefka had stepped away from the door. Shaking her head, she put the vial into a pack at her waist, wishing that she understood what was going on. Yharnam had always been a mystery to her people. While they lived in the shadow of the great cathedral city, her people had never been welcome there. No outsider was, save for those that came seeking medical attention. The blood trade was all that Yharnam seemed to have, save for the crazy ones that said that there was great wisdom to be found in the old city. She didn’t know about wisdom, but she had been treated. The voice in her head was gone, at least for the moment. That would be good enough for her for now. More than, for that matter. Hoping that the crunching sounds from down below meant that whatever was making them was very, very distracted, Nicola snuck down the ramp. Pushing the doors before her open – and wincing slightly at their creak – she made her way back to the first room of beds. As soon as she rounded the corner, though, she froze. Among them, biting down on a mutilated body, was a wolf that could have been the littermate of the thing that attacked her in her dream. As she looked closer, she realized that it must be the very same wolf. It was burned and bloodied, like it had been caught in a fire before escaping, and it had the same long claws, same wild grin as it ate its prey as the one that had snuck up on her had possessed. Squeak, squeak. The sound of the rolling wheelchair. She whipped her head from side to side, half-hoping to see the doctor, but there was no sign of him. No sign… Except for the spinning wheel that topped the wreckage by the wolf. The implications hit her like an avalanche, and she covered her mouth to stifle the gag. Her stomach heaved and she tasted bile before she could swallow it down again. [i]Oh god…Oh god…[/i] She forced it down. There was no point getting sick now. No point… [i]Oh god, it could kill me before I even get to the door…[/i] Nicola tried to keep herself from panicking, and she managed it, though by a very slim margin. Her heart was beating like a drum. Nothing about being a scout and hunter in the old woods had prepared her for something like this, for seeing a man ripped apart to his degree and his attacker still waiting for more food. But… The doors looked sturdy on the other side. Hard wood with thick metal panes between the glass part. If she could get through it, shut it on the beast, then she might just have the time to run out into the streets. Get help. Do something. Above all else, she couldn’t afford to fight this thing. It was too big, too strong, and even though it was injured, she didn’t have a weapon to kill it. Fleeing was her only chance. She took a step forward – Crack. A piece of broken glass shattered under her boot, and the wolf turned his head. Their eyes met for a split second, and then he was on her. “AAAAAAAAGH!” Nicola screamed as the wolf-creature pounced on her, bearing her to the ground with its great and powerful paws. He held her down by the shoulders, rearing his head back with a shaking growl. “No, no!” She punched him, her fists beating off the sides of his muzzle. He winced back, shaking his head, but he didn’t pull off of her. Her fists hit his nose, his lips, his neck, but it was not enough. Not nearly enough. It just made him mad. Made him bite. Made her dead. The blood flowed from her neck at the first bite, and her head rolled away from her body with the next, severed with the rough yanks of the wolf’s head. # The feeling of cool wind was what woke her. Mostly because she shouldn’t have been able to feel anything at all. Nicola groaned as she lifted her head from the dirt before her. Dirt. Not wood. Not stone. Dirt. [i]How?[/i] She didn’t question it. If she was dead, this was not the worst afterlife to be sent to. If she was not, then she didn’t need to question how she had gotten here, how she had managed to come back to life. Groaning, she slowly pushed herself upright, dragging herself from the ground to her feet. All around her, hedges and gravestones grew in equal measure, wrought-iron fences dividing the different pieces of the property in small plots. A single house, small, but tall, dominated the landscape, and past the fences… She walked to one, laying her hands on the iron fence and looking down. Only mist greeted her, but she had the dizzying feeling that there was nothing below it, that the world somehow stretched on forever…endlessly… Not daring to stay there lest she feel the temptation to throw herself off it, she turned to the one thing that made sense. The house. There were stairs and a line of gravestones leading up to it, so she took it as the invitation it was. As she passed by a human-sized doll, she heard a soft groan. Pausing, she looked right, looked left… Then looked down. The same withered white things that had been all over her in the hospital room were there beneath her, holding things towards her. At first, they looked like nothing but a bundle of metal and wood, but on closer inspection, she saw blades. She saw swords. She saw… She saw an axe. Nicola bent down, running one finger gently along the hilt of the axe. The little creatures suddenly disappeared, the other weapons going with them as the axe was thrust into her hand. She gasped, dropping it, and it clattered to the stone steps. The creatures did not return as she stepped away, and she gingerly reached down for the axe again. It was big, and it had a good heft to it. She was surprised at how dense the grip was, and more, surprised at the fact that it was as light as it was considering how big the sharp part was. She gave it a few experimental swings, getting the hang of it. [i]Not the same as a huntsman’s axe, but it’ll do,[/i] she thought. [i]At least it’s – Holy shit![/i] Her latest swing must have tripped something, because the axe suddenly doubled in length, the haft of it springing out and the blade suddenly much further from her than it had been. It almost sent her tumbling over, only a sudden grab with her other hand keeping it from falling out of her hands. It had transformed, shifting from a simple one-handed axe to something that would require two hands to wield. It was massive, and it was… It was deadly. Very, very deadly, judging by the crack that she’d left in the stone from a purely accidental attack. When she finally figured out how to shrink it again, she dropped it into her belt, keeping it at her side as she stepped further up the steps. When the creatures came back, this time offering a pistol or a blunderbuss, she understood what they were doing, if not why. She confidently grabbed the pistol, and they disappeared once more, leaving her to use it as she would. A pistol with five bullets wouldn’t be good for much, but it was better than nothing. Particularly against something that was so much stronger than her. If she ever went back there, at any rate. Maybe she should – The doors to the building were locked, putting an end to the idea of staying here. If she’d been able to get in, there might have been food for her, or at least shelter, but the doors were locked tight. More, she could see the metal supports through it, and knew that it would take more effort with the axe to break down the door than was worth putting into the whole thing. No, she had to go somewhere else. But how? Once again, the little creatures seemed more than willing to help. As she walked down the steps again, they suddenly seemed to rise out of one of the graves that were along the path. She walked over to it, brushing her hand against the stone, and was surprised to see that there were places rather than names engraved into the stone. Most were dim and empty, but one was illuminated by some strange pale light. “Iosefka’s clinic…first floor sickroom…” It seemed impossible, but so had everything else that had happened to her tonight. She knelt down at the base of the grave, her hand stroking back and forth along the place name, and she looked down at the small creatures. The withered white ones looked back, holding out their arms for her. “Well, boys…I guess it’s time for you to send me back…if you can…if you can even understand…” They must have, because the world was fading around her, going black once more. # She felt a small thump, like she had landed somewhere, and she opened her eyes again. A ghostly lantern stuck out of the middle of the floor, pushed up from the floorboards and surrounded by the little hands of the creatures. Whatever they were, they had brought her back to the same place. And this time, she brought with her a weapon. The axe was not so heavy in her hand as she expected, and it seemed to crave blood. Even holding it, she felt a hunter, a need, a feeling to take some revenge on the beast in the next room. It wasn’t exactly like the feeling she got when her blood ran hot, when she felt the voice in her head and the urge for blood in the past, but it wasn’t dissimilar from it, either. Nicola knew that giving into that urge would only make it stronger again, ruin the whole point of coming here in the first place… But for now, for the sake of living, she would let it tell her what to do. [i]Don’t hold back. Charge. Take the first move.[/i] She darted around the corner, axe in one hand, pistol in the other. The beast turned, but she already had her gun up, pulling the trigger. Bang! The beast whipped its head to the side, a burn and burst of blood cutting across its muzzle. She took advantage, lunging in and slicing at its belly with the axe. It roared, wailing, lifting up on its hind legs. [i]Keep moving. Never in the same place. Run past, roll.[/i] Already on her knees, she kept moving, feeling the heat of the claws overhead as it tried to cut her. The beast missed, coming down on all fours again as she got back to her feet. She whipped around, the axe coming loose, getting long. [i]Execute. Kill.[/i] With a yell that she didn’t know that she could ever pull off, she brought the axe down hard, the blade hitting the back of the wolf’s neck and severing it down to the spine. She yanked the axe to the side, and the spine snapped, the head lolling forward and blood running free of the creature, pooling down on the ground. The top hat of the doctor rolled away from the gory mess of the body, coming to a stop at the tip of her boots. Nicola panted, gritting her teeth as she forced the voice in her head down, trying to ignore the urges that pushed her to keep cutting, to slice, to tear, to rend. Eventually, they were quiet again, and she was able to pull the axe back to its normal size. It was not easy, but she managed it, dragging it into place and putting it away. “I’m sorry…” It was all she could think to say to the doctor. Strange as he was, he had still given her the gift of blood ministration, and it had been enough to control the voice. That was a gift that nobody else had managed to give her. She paused, then knelt down by his body. The half-crusted blood stuck to her fingers as she pulled his coat free, rooting through it until she found the rolled-up contract that she’d signed. She pulled it free, unrolling it. [i]In exchange for blood ministration, the undersigned agrees to perform as a hunter for a to be specified period of time. She will undertake the hunt through Yharnam, killing beasts and collecting blood to extend the healing that she has undergone, until such time as she has fulfilled her debt.[/i] There was a great deal more legalese surrounding it, but that was the crux of the situation. Nicola looked at it, then at the doctor, before nodding. “I can do that…I’m sorry that I couldn’t start sooner…” The chance to prolong her healing…That was an offer nobody else had made her. And the contract specified someone that would tell her when she had met her debt, when she had paid it off. Some man named Gehrman. It was a Yharnam name. She would find him here, she was sure. Somewhere. But not in the clinic. Leaving the bodies behind, she went back to the front door and pushed it open. A courtyard greeted her, empty, but bathed in the light of the setting sun. She hadn’t been asleep for long, then. She still walked cautiously as she left the clinic, knowing that there could still be many dangers about. She didn’t know what the people of the city were doing on the streets in such numbers earlier, but it might have been this hunt that Iosefka had been talking about. Or it might be something completely different. She turned left, following the cobblestone path to the gate that blocked her off. It was unlocked, thankfully, allowing her to step through. The town sprawled before her on the other side, with the great cathedral in the distance and many other buildings beside nearby. On the streets, however, there were upturned carriages, burning fires, and worse. Bodies slumped on the stones and over the wrought-iron railings that blocked people from walking right into the great canyons of the city, and the stink in the air of death was stronger than ever. Further up the path, near a ladder that hung off the side of a building, one of the townsfolk limped about. He carried an axe much like hers, one that was soaked in blood, and in his other hand he carried a torch. His eyes were glued to the ground, almost like he didn’t dare look up, and he was mumbling to himself. Whatever urge she felt to say hello, to introduce herself, went right out the window as someone poked their head out of a door further down the street. Suddenly, the man went berserk, howling ‘Beast, beast!’ before rushing at the door. One swing of the axe – POP! Off went the man’s head. The dead body fell through the open door, gushing crimson into the streets. The insane axe-wielder jumped into the house, and the sound of screams and the soft thunks of metal into flesh filled the air. [i]They’ve gone crazy…Completely crazy…[/i] Shaking her head in a mix of shock and nauseated anxiety, she hurried through the gap towards the ladder. There were other townsfolk further on, both with torches, one with a sword. They were staring at the ground, rocking back and forth in their own mad motions. Even though they looked safer than the axe-maniac, she didn’t want to risk it. They could go mad at any second. Instead, she climbed the ladder. As soon as she was a dozen feet up, she felt a bit safer, a bit less vulnerable. The higher she went, the better she felt, and she almost started to relax. Almost. A chilling shriek suddenly split the air when she was halfway to the top of the ladder, and she froze, her fingers digging in hard to the ladder’s handholds. The sound had come from a far distance, but even with that, she knew that it wasn’t the sound of a human. It wasn’t the sound of death or injury. It was the sound of a beast. [i]What’s happened here?[/i] she thought. [i]I thought beasts were under control…[/i] There was a plague of beasts in the world, admittedly, but in her home village, she’d seen them handled well enough. If someone was infected, if their blood began to boil, if they started to change and show signs of claw and fang, of fur and tail, then they were hunted and killed. It happened to maybe two or three people in a generation, no more. She’d come here because she was one of those in this generation. With Yharnam being the Blood City, and the beast curse being part of the blood, she’d thought that they would have a better handle on it than anyone else, that the plague would be nonexistent here. That sound, though…that was not just a normal person that had gone bestial. That was something much, much worse. She reached the top of the ladder to find a lamp post just like the one in the clinic. Hoping that it meant what she thought it meant, she reached down – “Ow!” Only to pull her hand back. She’d felt something stab her finger, like a quick needle poke. As she pulled back, though, a white spark jumped from her finger, lighting the lamp. Around the base, the creatures started to appear, their arms reaching up for her. So, perhaps she might be able to find these…and if she found them, she would be able to go between that strange house and the different lanterns? It was something to think about. “Hello?” It was a new voice, one from the house just ahead. Considering that so many people had tried to kill her already, Nicola wasn’t sure that she wanted to talk to anyone else. But…there had be Iosefka… She reached back to her pouch, feeling the blood vial that the woman had given her still inside. There were good people in this world, if she was willing to look out for them. She just hoped that they would be more common than the axe-murderers out there. “Yes?” she said as she walked up to the house window. “You’re an outsider, aren’t you?” “How can you tell?” “It’s the accent. I haven’t heard someone from outside of Yharnam for a long time, now, but I remember the sounds of it. It’s good to hear.” “Are you okay?” “Probably better off than you are, considering it’s the night of the Hunt.” “What is that? What’s going on?” “…You really did pick the worst night to come here, ma’am. You’re a Hunter?” “I guess.” “…Well, you don’t look too bestial. Hang on a moment.” The voice stopped, but she heard a click a bit further away. “The door’s around the side. Come in. If you’re going to be out and about tonight, you deserve to know what’s going on. Nobody deserves to face the Hunt blind.” Someone that [i]was[/i] kind…or someone that was going to turn her into a gory mess, like the doctor. Nicola compromised, getting a good grip on her axe before pushing the door open. It was time to get some answers. [b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]