“MMFFFFM! RRRMMMFFF!”
“I take it this is your offer?”
“Of course, exactly as we agreed.”

The two men watched each other warily from across the darkened room, lit only by the faint flickering of candlelight. Between them lay a writhing figure whose muffled shouts were dutifully ignored, as the ropes that bound them dug tightly into their flesh.

“Hmph. Let’s see here…”

One of them hobbled forward and leaned down towards the figure, removing the burlap sack covering its head. Underneath was the frightened visage of a dishevelled man who at first recoiled from the sudden rush of light, but when his bruised and bloodshot eyes lay upon the one who had removed his blindfold, his muted screams returned tenfold.

“FFM! NNM! NNMFFFM! MN!”

The thick rope gag held his jaw firmly open, and he desperately thrashed against his restraints even as they began to burn and shred his flesh. His wide eyes never lost their haunting stare straight towards his ‘saviour’, whose inhuman smile widened as he watched the scene with amusement.

“My oh my. It seems he recognises me.”
“With a name like ‘The Butcher of the Alps’, I’m not surprised you’re well known.”

Dismissing the violent spasms of their captive, the two men conversed once more, though as the first had stepped closer into the candlelight it was clear that something was very wrong with him.

His skin was a sickly white, and his cheeks were sunken so deep that it gave the appearance of his face being unnaturally stretched like a cheap mask. Even so, the bulging yellow eyes that sat upon the mantle of his bony cheeks were real beyond a doubt, as the intense stare they held even through the darkness was unmistakably chilling.

As he stretched out his scrawny arm towards the pleading prisoner, his long fingers traced the man’s skin slowly. His fingernails were faded and grey, but they were sharp like miniature daggers, and the captive froze in fear the moment they touched his skin.

“Yessss… Esspecially with theese… so-called ‘Vampire Hunterss’.”

The one called the Butcher slurred his words as though he were drunk, and he began to pant heavily while he wobbled unsteadily. His companion didn’t move an inch to assist him, as in his eyes, it was obvious what was coming next.

“MNNN! MMMN! GGNNNM!”
“Haa!”

Suddenly, his jaw unhinged like a snake, and the pallid old man sank his needle-like teeth deep into the neck of their prisoner, who shook uncontrollably.

*GULP* *GULP* *GULP*

In the quiet chalet, sickening gulping sounds reverberated as the vampire relished in his feast. There was no elegance, no sense of delicacy; just a raw animalistic hunger and an enraptured gluttony for blood. 

The poor soul who struggled against his restraints fell still the moment the fangs pierced his flesh, but his eyes rattled in their sockets as he surely felt his life draining away while he lay helpless. As the light began to fade from his eyes and the sound of nauseating slurping rang out in his ears, the last thing he saw before he left this world was the apathetic gaze of the one who had tricked and abducted him watching on wordlessly.

“Ahhhhh… Sex, drugs, power… None of it means anything in the face of such euphoria. Truly… Once you know the taste of blood after months of starving, there is no greater pleasure.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

As the Butcher rose to his feet once more, he stood tall - no longer feeble and frail. The white hair atop his head began to regain its lustre right before their eyes, and as he turned back towards his companion with a maniacal smile, he licked the remaining blood from his lips… though there were still giant bloodstains all down his shirt from his sloppy meal.

“I’m very impressed… Not only were you able to capture a vampire hunter, but you didn’t even flinch as you saw me feed. Had you shown even a moment of remorse… I was prepared to rip you to shreds.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”

The vampire leaned in towards the man with unbridled interest, his bulging eyes now firmly set into his new well-rounded, handsome appearance. Even though he breathed heavily in the cold room, only the other man’s breath could be seen in the air, and still high off of his long-awaited feast the vampire had to fight to tear his gaze from the man’s neck.

“You are… quite the human. You know, I could turn you, so you could enjoy these kinds of pleasures as well...”
“Thank you for your offer, but I must refuse. There are things I am here on this world to do, and that would be counter to my ambitions.”
“You are stubborn aren’t you… But I like that. Very well, my coven will assist you and your group.”

The man smiled politely as if he had just finished a successful business deal rather than watch another person be viciously consumed like fodder.

He stepped towards the vampire and held his hand out. He looked to be middle-aged, with a soft, disarming demeanour, but his cold black eyes seemed to look straight through everything as if he wasn’t staring at the one before him but something far off in the distance.

The two of them shook hands, with the man clasping firmly, seemingly without noticing the sharp fingernails that dug into his flesh, leaving small cuts. The vampire let out a light chuckle in response, and as they stepped away, he licked the blood from his nails.

“Mmm~...What is your name?”
“Name? I think we’ve both left those behind, haven’t we?”
“I thought humans still valued their names.”

The man’s hollow stare turned towards the vampire once again, and his once pleasant smile took on an eerie empty feeling.

“I lost my true name when I died. Now… Kharon is all that I am.”

In the quiet chalet on the snowy mountaintops, a treacherous alliance had begun to form.

******

“Alright Phoenix, listen up. As our enemy is few in number but spread wide, we’ll be splitting up into three field teams, all of which will receive instructions remotely based on whatever intel we can gather.”

Facing the class of students all kitted out in their battle-ready gear, Conrad spoke clearly. The island had docked off the western coast of Italy overnight, and now that the paperwork had all been cleared, they were ready to depart via Firebird.

“Myself, Dr Natsumi and Ji-Hye will be remaining in the Vatican City to oversee communications and facilitate any resources that can be provided. For the rest of you, you will be assigned as follows.”

Just as he had done many times before, he began writing names along the blackboard, split into three groups; Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie.

Alpha Team

Gale Rose-Windsor
Valeriya Zaytseva
Sidheag Fylani
Elis Öberg

Bravo Team

Hema Sundaresan Sahni
Mitra Sundaresan Sahni
Akil Nwadike
Wang Bao

Charlie Team

Ishitake Yuuji
Claire Dupond
Utsunomiya Hibiki
Leona Bianchi

Yuuji watched the names as they appeared, and his eyebrows raised slightly. It seemed that the groups were set to prioritise those who were close and worked best together, rather than the more randomly assigned groups they usually had. To him, it was likely that Conrad had arranged this to maximise safety going in, as in most cases he tried to mix up the groups so that everyone was able to experience working with each other.

“Alpha team, you will head to Bern, Switzerland. From there, you’ll be transported by a guide to the locations of any vampire sightings, and will be provided appropriate accommodation.”
“Yes, sir!”
“...Thank you Gale. I have specifically requested to avoid areas with poor network access unless absolutely necessary, as I intend to keep a clear line of communication open at all times in case anything happens.”
“Understood, sir!”

Conrad stifled a groan as he moved on to the next group.

“Bravo team, you are being sent to operate in the Greater Venice area. Keep in mind that while the city of Venice itself is under firm human control, areas to the west towards Milan are still largely overrun by lesser demons.”
“Should we help with that?”
“Don’t get distracted. Your objective on this mission is not reclamation, but to locate and exterminate the vampire threat. They may be in smaller villages, or even hiding in the cities themselves, so act cautiously, await intel and ensure as few civilian casualties as possible.”

Finally, he took another breath and moved on to the final squad.

“Charlie team, your bird is heading to Lyon, in France.”
“-Sir, might I request a transfer?”
“No Claire, you may not. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to put up with this for the sake of the mission. There was nothing else I could do.”

The girl was surprisingly outspoken, and after being refused, she sat back in her seat with a disgruntled expression. Leona also seemed less fiery than usual ever since she’d returned from her brief trip away, so Yuuji’s brows furrowed as he prepared for the worst.

“There is currently no time set for the duration of this mission, but you will be updated as and when that changes. As you can likely tell, it seems that the vampires are based somewhere in the Alps, which makes it extremely difficult to track their location consistently.”

Conrad rolled his thumb in the palm of his hand as he sighed.

“We will have some assistance from agents within the church, as well as local representatives. Ideally, the mission ends when the head vampire is eliminated, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re simply here to mitigate the damage done by these demons - don’t overextend yourself, or take unnecessary risks.”

The students watched him silently, likely all contemplating their next move after they arrived on location.

“Any questions before we leave?”

Silence.

With that, he had said all that needed to be said. There was no use delaying any further.

“Very well. Let us begin the operation.”