Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Love ❯ the Hunters ( Chapter 1 )

—My newest Yami/Yuugi fanfic…Blood Love is gonna be interesting for me to write. I actually think the title describes the fanfic very well. Yami's a vampire who ends up falling in love with Yuugi, a human. Neither one of them know how this is going to work out. I don't either. So let's find out…

 

Chapter 1 - Hunters

 

——— 1690 ———

 

“Follow me, men!” shouted a thin man with a grayish brown beard and slick, brown-gray hair. He held a sharpened stake in one hand and a torch in the other. A mob of angry locals marched behind him as they headed for the cemetery just outside of the village. The night that was once peaceful and quiet was shattered by the shouts and curses of the men. Some held the Cross into the air and others held torches like the leading man.

 

The air was thick with garlic as every other man wore a necklace of garlic around their necks. The lead man wore two garlic necklaces. Why? They were all going vampire hunting. The leader of the mob was Xavier Bartholomew, a very well-respected man in the entire village. He owned much of the land around the village and made sure all the locals had everything they needed. As a result, many of the people worshipped him like royalty.

 

Xavier stopped at the cemetery and the mob hushed to silence. Xavier took a couple of steps into the cemetery and held his torch high into the air. “Vampire! We know you're here! We dare you to show yourself. Come out and pay for your crimes.” Just yesterday, Xavier and his son discovered Mrs. Bartholomew lying in her garden, moaning in pain. But what was even worse was that Xavier saw a young man at the age of seventeen or eighteen licking a trail of blood off his wife's neck.

 

Xavier's son drove the vampire away from his mother and both of them assumed Mrs. Bartholomew was bitten, even after she told them that she was all right. Xavier drove a stake through his wife's heart and now he was out for revenge against the vampire for biting his wife.

 

“I did not bite your wife, Xavier Bartholomew.” rang a clear voice from somewhere in the cemetery. The mob tensed and Xavier readied his stake.

 

“You speak falsely, vampire.” Xavier snapped. “I saw you lapping at her blood like a dog laps at water!”

 

“She had injured herself and I was trying to heal her. I swear to you that this was the first time I have tasted human blood.” said the voice. It was getting closer.

 

Xavier took a step back. “Slow yourself, lying demon!”

 

A young man appeared just out of reach of the light. He wore a sleeveless dark blue shirt and leather, black trousers with a flowing black cape. His spiked hair was red, black and golden. His crimson eyes focused on Xavier alone.

 

Xavier took off one of his garlic necklaces and said, “Take this, vampire!” He threw the necklace at the vampire. The vampire simply let the garlic necklace hit him. It fell to the ground and all the vampire did was wave a pale hand under his nose.

 

“All of you stink. I suggest bathing regularly.” the vampire said sarcastically.

 

“You dare mock us! You are outnumbered, vampire!” Xavier ran towards the vampire with his stake positioned and ready to drive it into the vampire's heart. The vampire dodged at the last minute and ran through the dark cemetery at surprising speed. Xavier followed as the crowd of men watched their leader run into the night. Once he'd completely disappeared, only a handful of men decided to follow. The others turned chicken and went back home.

 

A full moon hung lazily over the world, making it easier for Xavier to see, because his torch had died out when he was running. He threw down his unlit torch and clutch the cross charm on his necklace. He held the stake ready to attack. The vampire was hiding in the shadows and watched Xavier. He knew that there was no use reasoning with this man. Xavier was far too blind with grief at the loss of his wife.

 

I was walking passed the garden, he thought. I saw the lady stumble and then trip and fall. Her neck was sliced by the corner of a stone garden bench. I jumped into the garden and asked her if she was still alive. From the way she was screaming and crying, I assumed she was. I hypnotized her and then processed to clean her wound. That was when Xavier Bartholomew and his son found me.

 

“That's what I get for doing someone a favor.” the vampire muttered softly.

 

“Vampire! Come and face me, you bastard! Come forward!”

 

The vampire came to where Xavier could see him. “I do not want to fight.”

 

“I'm not going to fight you.” Xavier said. “I'm going to kill you!” He launched himself at the vampire, stake aimed perfectly. The vampire ducked and in a split second decision he threw the man up and over his head. The vampire straightened and suddenly regretted his split-second decision. Xavier's body was lying partly torn in half by a rather thin pyramid-shaped tombstone.

 

The sight of the dead man's blood was tempting, but the vampire shook his head when he heard people coming. He knew he had to leave this village or be destroyed. So with a swish of his cape, the vampire ran off into the night. The handful of men found Xavier's body and cursed the vampire for his murder.

 

Xavier's son, Wilson Bartholomew, was saddened by the death of both his parents. He was sixteen years old when he decided that all vampires must be destroyed. He became mad and every wife he had, he made sure she only bore him a son. If it was a girl, he killed it immediately.

 

Every Bartholomew son was taught the ways of hunting vampires and for centuries, no vampire was safe for the Bartholomew family, who now called themselves the Hunters. There was only one vampire who managed to stay out of their grasp. And that was the one vampire that they needed to destroy above all others. The one that killed Wilson's parents…Yami.

 

——— Present Day ———

 

“Hand it over, kid!” said the mammoth-like mugger with sunglasses hiding his eyes. His two buddies—who were just as tall and beefy as he was—stood on either side of the kid they were talking to.

 

“H-hand what over?” the kid stammered.

 

The mugger grabbed the kid by his shirt collar and slammed him into the trash cans against the opposite side of the alley they stood in. “The money, stupid. I know who have money. Now give it up.” He pulled out a pocket knife that glinted in the sun. “Hand it over or loose some blood.”

 

“Let's cut off all those red and black spikes.” said one of the mugger's friends. “I can't kids with spiky hair.”

 

The kid struggled to his feet. “I don't have any money today. I spent my five dollars on one of those puzzle boxes. Y'know that game where you turn the sides of the cube and try to match the colors. All I have is pocket change.”

 

The mugger grabbed the boy's neck in one hand and fished through his pockets only to find a dime and a nickel. “What the fucking hell?! Fifteen cents is all you got! Dammit, that won't even buy me a candy bar from a snack machine. He shoved the nickel down the boy's pants and the dime into the boy's mouth. The mugger and his friends took turns hitting and kicking the boy until a car slowed to a stop and a man got out.

 

“What's going on here?” the man asked in a loud voice. The mugger turned and saw the glistening horror of a policeman's badge. The mugger and his buddies turned and ran. The man leaned over the boy as he coughed up the dime.

 

“You okay, kid?” the policeman asked.

 

“Y-Yeah…” the boy said. His jaw was swollen and his right eye was bruised and blackish purple. His stomach hurt and when he tried to walk, he ended up limping.

 

“Need a lift home?” the policeman asked, helping the boy towards the police cruiser.

 

“N-no sir. I'll be fine now.” the boy replied. He went back into the alley to get the nickel out of his underwear.

 

“What's your name, son?” the man asked as the boy limped back out of the alley.

 

“Y-Yugi Mutou, sir.” the boy replied.

 

“Well, Yugi…you shouldn't be wandering the streets with a limp like that. I'll take you home.” the policeman opened the passenger side of his cruiser. Yugi limped into the car and they drove away.

 

“You shouldn't walk around all alone like this, kid. You ought to walk home with a friend or something. There's safety in numbers.” the policeman replied.

 

“I don't have—” Yugi stopped himself. “I have one friend.”

 

“Good. You ask him to walk home with you.” the policeman said.

 

“I…I guess.” Yugi said quietly. Actually Yugi didn't really know if his “friend” existed or not. When he was a little kid, he was picked on constantly. One day, in 3rd grade, when a couple of boys were getting ready to beat him up, an older boy of maybe seventeen stepped in and made the bullies leave Yugi alone.

 

“Are you all right?” the stranger asked.

 

“I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, mister.” little Yugi had said.

 

The stranger stood and said, “Well, if they ever pick on you again, just call and I'll come to help you.”

 

“You okay, kid?” the policeman asked.

 

“Huh? Yeah I'm fine, uh…”

 

“Officer Bartholomew…Officer Jerald Bartholomew.”

 

“Officer Bartholomew, thank you.” Yugi said and looked out the cruiser window. He eventually told the policeman to stop and the cruiser halted instantly. Yugi climbed out and limped to the back of his grandpa's Game Shop. The cruiser drove away and Yugi hurried upstairs to his room before his grandpa could find him all beat up.

 

“Help me!” cried little Yugi. These were different bullies and it had been a year since he'd seen the stranger. “Please somebody!”

 

“That's right, dweeb!” said the first bully. “Cry for Mommy!” He shoved Yugi to the ground and slammed his foot into Yugi's back. Yugi cried out in pain as the other bullies kicked his sides and twisted his arm.

 

“Enough!” said the same dark voice from a year ago. Yugi looked up with teary eyes and saw the same stranger. The stranger walked towards the bullies with one slap to each face the bullies were sent flying two feet from where Yugi lay.

 

With four bullies lying unconscious around them, Yugi began to feel like this guy wasn't even real. Yugi tried to get up, but couldn't. “Thank you.” Yugi whispered as the stranger touched his arm and back. The pain vanished instantly.

 

Yugi jumped to his feet and turned to his new friend. “Thank you! My name is Yugi. What's yours?”

 

“I'm being hunted.” said the stranger.

 

Yugi blinked. “Uh…whadda ya mean?”

 

“I have to go now. Please never tell anyone you saw my face. Or the Hunters will be sure to find me and destroy me.” the stranger replied. He smiled at Yugi and the boy thought he imagined fangs in the stranger's mouth.

 

“I wish he was still here.” Yugi sobbed into his pillow. “Then I wouldn't have mugger problems again.” He sobbed and sobbed until his pillow was damp with tears.

 

—To be continued in Chapter 2. Heh…well, it's the first Chapter, but it looks okay so far. What do you readers think?