Grey clouds hung over the small island of Patch, and while this might've been a minor annoyance to some, Yang felt like dropping to her knees and thanking whatever gracious deity had sent the shade. She knew that she probably wouldn't be able to get back up, though, and refrained.

Thinking was a difficult task in her state, a splitting headache made her wince every time her heels hit the hard black road that led away from Signal. Nevertheless, she tried to imagine the layout of the town, and where she might be able to slip through unnoticed. Ruby said that she had people under her control all over the place, and Yang believed her. She could remember the trip through the first time. It was strange to think that Ruby was even capable of doing something like this, and yet she was walking towards the prison-town.

Another jolt of pain stabbed through her forehead like a rusted blade, and she tried to put her hand to her temple before remembering that she still had her helmet on. She was certainly not comfortable. Her other hand was still glued to her neck, keeping the fleeting sunlight away.

She turned, walking backwards for a few paces and peering at the school. How far had she walked? A mile? Something like that. She could still easily see the spires of the school, but you could see those from almost anywhere on Patch.

A slow bit of movement caught her eye, and Yang squinted towards her old school, trying to make out what was going on. The large doors were opening, and several hunched figures filed out before closing again. Her eyes took several seconds to focus properly, but when they did, she could definitely recognize the distant shapes.

Blake, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren. She'd seen a few of them in Ruby's hall, but she knew all had to be under her control. She didn't know who she wanted to fight the least. She didn't want to hurt any of them, but chances were that if they caught her, she wasn't going to have a choice. She turned back around, and tried to move a little faster. Chances were that they hadn't noticed her, she was too far for a normal human to see, but they were going to be looking for her.

She looked down to her feet, hoping that she hadn't been leaving any kind of trail. She sighed in relief when she saw that she hadn't. At least something had gone right today.

She hoped that it wasn't the last thing. Though she would have to take the long way around the town to get to the docks. Hopefully Ozpin would have been assured of his claim that he would be waiting for her to say "I told you so."

A soft snap in the distance brought her back to alertness. Crushing grass followed suit making her guess there was someone else up ahead. She made a beeline off to the left the even longer way around town. She hoped Ruby would guess she was heading the docks and would go the other way while she tried to find a way to communicate with Ozpin… Her hand subconsciously moved to the pocket she normally left it in. She reminded herself she hadn't brought it, but was surprised when she felt something. Not pausing in her escape she pulled out a red emergency scroll, and remembered she had put it in her jacket almost a month ago because she couldn't find anywhere better for it.

As she ran she flipped open the device. The small red frame had a crack in the corner causing the screen to be a little fuzzy in the corner where the options and call button were, but save the function she actually needed, it was entirely functional.

"2 Voice messages, 51 Text Messages." She flipped up the screen to see the list of missed contacts. The first looked like some random business number, the second was from Ruby, dated six days ago. Looking at the text the first few were from her friends, mostly asking if she was alright, or where she was. The next 43 were from Ruby.

"Hey, you awake? Call me when you wake up."

"Are you mad? Please call me. :("

"I'm so bored. Wake up already! :("

"Please wake up! The guy who turned me is very mad that I'm alive still."

"So the the scary guy I mentioned is named Dracul. He said he wouldn't kill me so long as I leave Vale by tonight. I guess I'll head home. Meet you there! :D"

"Don't get mad, but I might be bringing Weiss, Jaune and everyone else with me. I don't want them getting hurt after all. ;)"

"Been a day, been real hungry for a couple days, but I found that jerk Oak from last year to fill me. He wasn't particularly tasty, but there are plenty of other people that smell good."

"Have you ever killed someone before? Who would have thought it could be so much fun! :D"

"I ripped this one hunter's throat out when he blew me off, there was blood everywhere, it was great! Come over whenever you want, I got plenty of people now for us to eat! ;p"

Yang stopped reading, seeing how the trend of messages went. She looked up and realized she didn't know where she was, but guessed she was in the center woods. Maybe she should try to find their house since she was already almost half way there.

She and Ruby had been told to avoid the woods, but the Grimm problem had gotten better over the past few years, no doubt due to the overnighters Ruby would have when she started at Signal. They weren't gone, but she was confident she wouldn't see any unless she went out looking for them.

She remembered the time that she'd dragged Ruby out somewhere in these woods, looking for her mom. She still felt ashamed whenever she thought about it.

She bet that no one would have guessed that those two sweet little girls had both been transformed into horrible bloodsucking monsters. Or at least, one of them had.

What would Summer think if she were here? Yang had nothing but warm memories about the woman, but it was hard to imagine what she would do if she found out what Ruby and Yang had become.

Yang couldn't help but wonder what her own mother would do. Would she still love her? Her dad insisted that she cared way too much for it to be a facade, which went along with it being strange that she would suddenly disappear. Yang had been the most precious thing in the world to her, but was that still true for a vampire?

She shook her head, trying to forget it. Nothing good ever came of those thoughts, she'd learned. She could worry about that later.

What would her dad think? Supposedly he was still out here fighting to stop Ruby, though she didn't know how much help he would actually be to her. Sure he was strong, as was Uncle Qrow; but this was Ruby. They would rather kill each other than hurt her. It seemed like Ozpin already knew how this would play out from the start. If she had listened to him, maybe Ruby would be back to normal by now; and maybe that women would still be alive. But no, she had to be stubborn and thick headed like she always was.

Her fist collided with her helmet as she tried to punch herself, but the headgear held firm, designed to take blows even stronger than what she just delivered.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She shouted as she fell to her knees so she could punch the earth. Her neck wound singed when it met contact with the obscured light above. She didn't pay it any mind, the pain for some reason making her focus. Power rushed through her body, letting her stand on her feet renewed with strength.

She sensed something watching her, but there was no scent, or even heartbeat. She turned to see two glowing eyes staring back at her. It was a Beowolf, a rather small one too. The spikes were mere stubs, with teeth that only slightly larger than her own fangs. She had seen a few young beowolves like this one before, but they were more vermin than "threats to humanity." It approached her slowly. It wasn't growling or even bearing its teeth. It seemed like it was more curious of her than anything.

"What? Attack me! I'm human! I'm not a monster!" She yelled at it.

That seemed to assure the little rat she was in fact prey. It leaped at her, going right for the throat, only to be lazily snatched out of the air. She held it in front of her by the scruff of its neck, spending a moment to watch it claw and kick at her; determined to win. She sighed in slight relief, at least the Grimm still thought she was human, even if they could notice a small change. Her free gauntlet unfolded from its bracelet form before leveling itself at the wolf's head.

She hesitated when a thought came to her mind. She and Ruby were very closely skilled before, yet now Ruby could beat her even without Crescent Rose, like she had a couple years on her. If she was to beat Ruby she'd need to learn to use her new powers to the same extent as Ruby did. Otherwise she'd be just dead weight to Ozpin when it came time for her to help him, and even more so against this "Dracul" character. He must be powerful, as neither Ozpin nor Ruby could beat him.

Yang heard growling to her right and looked over to see a large pack of Grimm in a clearing nearby, waiting to see what she did, but clearly with plans to fight her.

"Oh good, you guys will make much better practice than this runt." She commented before lightly tossing the pup in the air. It gave a small yelp, but was silenced by Yang before gravity even started to send it back to the ground. A number of Beowolves were already sprinting toward Yang ready to fight, but many more hung back, waiting and watching for something.

The first of the pack got within arm's reach, and she lashed out, her fist swinging around and catching the monster in the base of the jaw. There was a loud crack, and it was knocked to the side, body already limp and smoking. She didn't have time to admire her work, though, as the next of the monsters came forward.

Long talons and bleached white teeth came whirling towards her in an animalistic flurry, but it all felt slow to Yang. She knew how fast beowolves could normally move, and was even aware that this particular pack was moving with a slightly above average speed. Why, then, did they seem to hang in the air so long?

She took full advantage of the situation. Her own limbs still felt heavy and sluggish, so maybe it was a balanced fight. One particularly aggressive member of the pack leapt at her from a few paces away, intent on getting a takedown immediately. Its path made clear that it was going for her throat, and Yang's fists tightened as she pulled her body to the side, reaching out with her arms.

She caught the beast by its head, one hand at the bottom of its muzzle, and the other at the back of its head. The beast's momentum made it hard not to be pulled along with it, but her feet were firmly planted. Anger washed over her like a tidal wave, and her body turned ninety degrees, arms shifting to keep a hold on her prey. Without thinking, she put her weight on one leg, and brought the Grimm arcing over her head, crashing into the dirt with bone crushing force. She immediately shifted weight to the other leg, and did the same to the other side. Each impact was punctuated with a word spat through clenched teeth.

"Enough-"

Yelp.

"-with-"

Snap.

"-my-"

Thud.

"-neck!"

She moved one foot forward, and used her new stance to pivot into a swing, letting go of the corpse and watching it spin through the air before crumpling in front of the rest of the group.

This caused a moment of delay as the Grimm followed the flight of their friend.

A small grin slid across Yang's face. Now it was her turn.

She charged head first towards the nearest Grimm, nearly exploding out of her standstill. Ember Celica jetted out a fiery stream of dust propelling her forward, and she twisted midair to make sure that she would do as much damage as possible.

Her feet hit the head of the Grimm, and she kicked out as hard as she could. its neck snapped back, and most of her momentum went with it. She dropped down to the earth, and found that a circle had quickly formed around her. She could see every long strand of saliva and mucus dripping from their jaws, and their chests heaving as they panted hard, breath steaming up in the chilled air.

The circle didn't last for long as whatever hollow form of fear the Grimm felt faded away, and they continued to throw themselves at her. A swipe at her back made Yang spin, reaching out faster than her attacker could react and landing a blow squarely on the outside of its thick elbow.

The joint snapped like a twig, and Yang pulled it forward before kicking its legs out from under it and kicking its head. The skull caved in under her boot, and she turned to find her next victim already lunging towards her. The large claws of the Beowolf were already too close to dodge or evade. They wrapped around her midriff and pulled her up several feet off the ground. One of Yang's arms was caught against her side, and the other was pushing fruitlessly at the massive fingers.

The Beowolf pulled her closer and gave an almost concussive roar, flecks of spit spattering across her helmet. As the howl came to a crescendo she felt like her ears were about to pop. The sensation didn't quite register like pain though, more like an annoying buzz, and she was glad for that.

She abandoned her attempts to loosen its grip, and instead threw a punch into the creature's gaping mouth. She was close enough that she felt her fist become engulfed in soft, wet tissue before she fired.

A gout of sizzling blood and dark chunks of meat erupted out the back of the Grimm's throat, long tongues of flame licking at their edges as they went.

Yang might've appreciated the sight, were it not for the searing pain in her hand.

The Grimm's body slacked, dropping her to the earth far less gracefully than she had the first time. She clutched her hand close to her chest, and after feeling the hot fire threaten the rest of her body, did her best to smother the flame.

She was so distracted by the fire that she didn't notice the Beowolf creeping up behind her. She felt the claws of the Grimm slicing into her back.

Her body tipped forward, but she brought her arms out, rolling forward out of reach.

She sprang back to her feet, turned, and shook her hand, sending a small cascade of black ash to the dirt. All of this was well and good, but it wasn't anything she couldn't do normally. She needed to find her limits, and see what she could do with her new powers.

Another Beowolf started to lunge forwards, but she wasn't paying much attention. She was thinking about how Ruby had fought. It was like her sister had made her body itself into weapons. It was a lot more flexible than what Yang had, and clearly more effective. What could she do, though? She didn't know how to do any of the things her sister had.

She had to start somewhere though, and she had the feeling that simpler would be better. When she'd flown back at Beacon she'd had to focus on getting where she wanted to go. Maybe she just needed to do that now.

The Grimm sped towards her, and her attention returned to the immediate danger. She leaned back, letting the claws swipe past. It missed by such a small margin that Yang could feel the top layer of her clothes shift. As soon as she could, she struck out at the Grimm, not very sure about what she was doing. She felt the bones and flesh of her fingers shift around, but didn't stop to look down.

On instinct, she slashed out at the Grimm, and was surprised to find that the Grimm stumbled back, belly open and organs spilling out.

She looked down at her hand and only caught the briefest wisp of black smoke flit away from her hand. She pulled her thoughts back to the fight in time to avoid another slash. The Beowolf aimed high, forcing Yang to duck, and made a follow up attack before she could right herself up. She leapt back to disengage before returning to concentrating to change her shape.

It came a little easier, knowing what she was actually trying to do this time, but it still required a lot of focus. This time she saw a black ooze pool around her wrist before running along her hand to form a simple spike. Trying to get a little fancy, she thrust her new weapon out toward the charging Beowolf. As she wanted, the sharp point flew forward till it pierced through the Grimm's head. Despite performing the feat, she wasn't satisfied. It was taking way too much focus to shapeshift, let alone to actually fight with it. She felt like she was twelve again learning just how to hold a sword for the first time. It would probably take time for her to get a hang of this, but the foes she was going to face weren't going to hold back just because she was new to all this.

Willing to finish this fight, she let the black spike dissipate into smoke while she threw her other fist forward. It took a moment for her attack to actually follow suit, but once more another black spike raced forward. When it was halfway to its target, Yang once more tried to push her limit, and had it split to kill two of the remaining three wolves. One tried to dodge but was still caught while the other ran right into it. The third, seeing a moment to strike, leapt high into the air, paw raised high to deliver a devastating blow.

Yang could easily kill it, but wanted to try that strange mist form of hers again. It took a little longer then she wanted and required her to close her eyes to block out distractions, but she finally could feel the familiar feeling come over her. Opening her eyes she saw the Grimm already on the ground slashing at her with an animalistic ferocity. She moved herself forward and was glad of the result when she passed through it effortlessly. The monster ceased its attacks when it realized it wasn't having any effect and instead took a more defensive stance.

Despite not having a shape anymore, she could feel a headache coming on and soon her concentration was broken, and she started reverting her back to her physical form. She fell to a knee and panted softly as a feeling of weakness came over her.

Seeing its chance the Grimm before her rushed forward. Yang eyed it as it ran on all fours. Once in range, it lunged, mouth open and reaching for her throat. Yang swiftly stood and delivered a devastating uppercut to the wolf's jaw. A thunderous bang fired off and the smoking form of the Grimm went flying high over the tree line, before crashing back down far out of sight.

"What did I just say about the neck!"

A crack of thunder pulled her back into the world. It was still going to be a few minutes, but it was certainly about to rain. After a quick orientation of her direction she charged forward toward the northern edge of the island. The weakness she had felt when she fled from Signal was now gone. No doubt due to the flight of the sun.

She needed more practice with her powers, doubting she would be able to use them in an actual fight with a competent opponent. For now though, she'd have to stick with her tried and true method of punching things till they broke.

It felt like an hour before she was satisfied with the progress she'd made, and the fading corpses of her Grimm attackers as well as the shattered remains of tree trunks and stumps. She'd tested out the best of what she could do, but still knew she was way behind Ruby.

All of the shapeshifting had taken its toll on her, though. She felt tired still, but knew she needed to move. Ruby would probably be sending her minions to the woods now, and her efforts had made a lot of noise. If they were anywhere within ear shot Ruby would probably know where she was going.

Her pace had increased as the sky grew darker and her body recovered its energy. Her mouth and throat felt like sandpaper, but she had no intention of curing her discomfort. She could still picture that woman's face clearly as it practically deflated.

She couldn't help but wonder if she had looked like that when Ruby attacked her. She'd been able to put up much more of a fight, but Ruby had also been a lot weaker back then. It felt like such a long time ago that she'd been worrying about her sister's diet and social life. She still was, in a way, worried about her diet. Just in a radically different way.

Rain fell against her helmet, but the visor was open and her face was exposed to the cool air. She could feel her skin growing irritated but relished the opportunity to breathe something other than the stale air inside the mask.

She was soaked thoroughly, thought she hardly took any notice of it. There was barely any heat in her body to sap anyways, and the weight of the water was nothing.

The trees that surrounded her started to thin out, and she spied familiar places. Ruby had loved to play out in these woods, but they'd never been allowed to go very deep in. They never should have been anyways, but Yang had hated that restriction when she was little. There had been a few times she'd snuck out when everybody else was asleep, but she never even got out of sight of the house on her own.

She looked up. The layer of leaves between her and the clouds was thinning, and even with the thick clouds, she would have to put her visor down again.

The ground was starting to slope down, a sure sign that she was getting closer to the coast, and that meant she was getting closer to home. She always felt good when she came back, but this time she wouldn't be using the long, twisty path that lead back to the cottage.

She reached up and slid the visor down, breathing one last gulp of the smooth rain-filled air before starting to make her way down.

Under normal conditions the sharp drop in front of the tree line was treacherous to navigate thanks to countless roots and rocks sticking out of the hill. In the rain it was almost impossible to say upright. Yang had more capabilities than the average person, though, and was able to slide down the slippery mud slope without any issue.

Now that she was out of the canopy, she could see just how heavily it was raining. Thick sheets of driving ocean storm swept across the island, and Yang was immediately almost blinded and deafened by the water hammering against her mask.

The familiar soft glow of light from square windows she always saw when her or Ruby were out, were black. Wind and rain never scared her too much, but it had taken Ruby until she was eight years old to keep from burrowing into blankets and hiding. She tried to push the memories out of her mind, at least for the moment. She didn't want to think about it now.

The wind buffeted her body, threatening to rip her helmet off her head or scarf off her neck. She grabbed at both, making sure they didn't get sucked away.

The house itself seemed quite, a sanctuary of peace in a turbulent storm. Yang felt her spirits raise ever so slightly at this. She'd been looking forward to finding someone she knew who wasn't mind-controlled or a vampire.

Nothing but muck sliding down the slope had followed, making her realize something positive about her situation. The weather might suck, but at least it would hide her tracks. For the most part, anyways. The evidence of that fight wouldn't be erased by a simple downpour.

As she got a clear look, she realized that the lights weren't actually on. Her mind had played tricks on her, or there had been some glint of light on her visor. She tried to bite back her disappointment and anger, holding out just a little bit of hope.

Her knuckles rapped on the wooden door and she stepped back, waiting for some response. Nothing came but guessing from the lights being out she guessed that her dad and uncle weren't home. She didn't honestly expect them to be, but it never hurt to try. She took a step back before jumping up to one of the support beams that held up the overhang. She hung from it for a second, feeling around until she felt the familiar metal touch of the house key. She dropped back down in front of the door and turned it in the lock. There wasn't a clicking noise so she turned it the other way. The sound of the lock sliding in place hinted that the door had already been unlocked before she arrived. Typical Ruby, must have stopped by for one reason or another and forgot to lock up. When this was over she was going to have to have some stern words about that.

The door pushed back to reveal the entire house was perfectly clean.

"Guess dad was right. We were the ones who kept this place trashed, not Qrow."

She didn't pause on that thought for long, walking over to the phone on the kitchen wall she dialed up Ozpin's number.

"Tai? Is that you?"

"No, it's me Yang."

"Oh I must say that took a while, I was actually starting to think that something had happened to you."

"You were right. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I guess I just get a-"

"It's all right. I remember when I went running off to kill my first vampire."

"I'm done being stupid. I'm at my house, can you pick me up? I think Ruby has the entire island looking for me so I can't go to the docks where you dropped me off."

"I'm circling the island now, I'll be there in just a few minutes."

Yang hung up before walking through her house. The storm gave it a grey, gloomy appearance. She considered turning on one of the lights just to bring in some color to the house, but considered it moot if she was going to be leaving in just a few minutes. She took a turn up the stairs and headed to the second floor. Taiyang's room was kept in near perfect order the rack that held his weapon and his combat uniform was gone; as was the picture of her and Ruby standing together, and the image of Summer. She walked over to the small desk in the room hoping he might have left a note somewhere, but after a little searching, the only thing she found of note was a rather inappropriate picture of Summer tucked away in the bottom drawer and a binder with a bunch of newspaper comics he liked enough to keep.

She felt a twinge of emotional pain that nothing had been left for her, but it made sense. Her father probably thought she was dead. Maybe she was, but she was still kicking. She needed to save Ruby, make sure her dad and uncle were alright, and bring the family back together.

She walked out of her father's room and down the hall to her and Ruby's rooms. They were directly across from another, and Ruby's door hung open slightly while hers was firmly shut. Her dad would have been sure to close both, so Ruby must have made a special trip. She was tempted to peek inside, reaching for the door handle, but hesitated just before touching it. Maybe it would be best to distance herself from those memories for now.

She turned to look at the door to her own room, sighing. She couldn't visit home without at least looking around there.

It was almost exactly as she had left it, posters of hot boy bands whose music was terrible and a variety of advertisements for movies she'd never seen, but looked to contain some explosion-packed action and trashy plot about saving the world. The rest was littered with nothing of note, wrappers, clothes she'd forgotten to pack or simply never picked up, and more than a few other pieces of garbage. Her dad had given up on keeping this room clean years ago.

There was nothing she particularly wanted to see again, it was all just stuff. Ruby was the one who collected sentimental items. There were a few more interesting pieces buried in the filth somewhere, exotic drinks she wasn't supposed to have, small gifts from friends, probably a few teachers' hubcaps from pranks she'd forgotten to return, but none of that could really help.

She heard the sound of engines through the driving rain, and turned away, walking back down the hall quickly. The sooner she could get down to business, the better.

When the Bullhead made a soft landing on the sand, she gave no pause about running towards it and jumping into the cabin before taking a seat, and yelping in surprise when she found Ozpin sitting across from her. His fingers were interlaced, his chin resting on top and his cane underneath. His eyes gazed in her direction, but she got the feeling he was looking through her, not directly at her.

He didn't speak, but he didn't need to. His eyes said it all.

He gave a soft tap on the metal wall, and the aircraft started to lift into the air again, chunks of wet sand and cold sea foam being thrown in every direction. The hull lurched as the landing gear started to fold back, and the ground started to retreat. Yang sat in silence for a moment as they started to pull away from the beach, then stood abruptly and went to the open door.

The house was fading away, practically gone already thanks to the rain, and Yang cursed to herself as she remembered something.

"Damn door…"

She remembered she wasn't alone, and turned to find Ozpin raising an eyebrow at her.

"I left my door… never mind, it doesn't matter."

He humphed to himself and for the first time since her change actually broke a smile.

"I guess it's just part of hunting your first vampire."

.

Author's Notes:

As per the norm with this story, Leivve is absolutely essential. Thanks man!