Yang let out a yelp as her feet were swept from beneath her. Her nose smashed into the floor, cracking loudly as it broke. She was about to push herself up, but Ozpin's cane came down on the back of her head, forcing it back down. A burning feeling lingered, even after the cane was removed.

She growled to herself as she rolled over onto her back, looking up at the professor. He stood patiently, both arms leaning on the cane, peering back. She grabbed her nose and forced it back into place. No pain came from it, but a crack louder than the first told her it should have.

"Miss Xiao Long, I have told you several times; you'll need to use your vampiric powers if you want even the slightest chance to hit me, let alone Dracul."

"I've tried. It's too hard. It takes too much focus just to do basic things like shapeshift or go smoke-y."

"Really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "Normally vampires can use their powers naturally."

"Oh, great! You saying I'm a gimped vampire?"

"I refuse to believe that. I'll have Glynda help you practice, it's been decades since the last time I even spoke directly with a vampire let alone worked with one, I need to reread some books on this; awaken some knowledge I might have forgotten." He finished, walking off at a quick pace. Glynda entered a few moments later and greeted Yang.

"Good afternoon, Yang. I'm afraid I can't stay for too long. despite the urgency of the situation, I still have a class to teach in an hour."

"You're a vampire hunter too? You've got the attitude for it, I guess."

"No, but due to my relationship with Ozpin, you could say I'm a bit of an exception to the rules." Her riding crop came around, tagging Yang's nose to make sure she had the young huntresses attention, "If you ever meet another member of The Order, you are never to say anything about this. Got it?"

She nodded, still focused on the leather tool. People had joked about it at the beginning of the year. They didn't anymore. Glynda made sure of that.

"Good. Now, you've had my class, you know how I teach. The best way to teach a man to swim is to throw him in the ocean. And, thanks to your regenerative abilities, I won't have to go quite as easy on you as any other student." She grinned with the last few words, making Yang's spine tingle.

Yang tried to ignore it, opting instead to turn away from the teacher and clap her hands together, saying, "Well, Professor Ozpin already beat the snot out of me, so I don't think we need to try-"

A tingling feeling in the back of her head made her stop and turn. Her eyes shot open as she saw a wedge of what looked like glass shards spiraling towards her.

Almost involuntarily, she jerked her torso back, toppling towards the ground. She had to focus hard to twist her body around so she didn't land on her back. She landed on all fours before swiftly moved herself to the side as a slab of the floor next to her attempted to strike her. Glynda made another quick flick of her crop, a small smile on her face as her eyes followed Yang.

Instead of avoiding the attack, Yang charged forward, using her momentum to right her body as she went. The second slab shattered on her side. If she were a normal human, her entire left side would have been crushed to a point that doctors couldn't save her, but that was what she was counting on. The fire in her chest went from a simple ember to a burning fire in an instant. Her fist came up, but only met air. A wide hook followed up, but again she missed as Glynda casually dodged Yang's attacks. Blasts from her gauntlets roared out in rage that was starting to match her own as she struggled to hit the clearly more experienced teacher.

Her wounds started to heal, and with it, her power started to diminish. Finally after one last jab, Yang had the opening she needed. Glynda was crouched to her side, in perfect position for Yang to deliver one of her infamous uppercuts. The headmistress was already ahead of her though, and just before contact could be made, Yang felt a glass shard enter the back of her bicep, throwing off her aim. Soon another came into her opposite shoulder, then another into her spine. More made contact, and within the second Yang was lifted off the ground by the countless shards.

She slammed into the wall, hard. Plaster cracked, and air was forced from her glass lodged in her was knocked loose, but more and more took its place. When Yang finally slid far enough down that she could feel her feet on the floor, she used all her strength to force herself around. The inferno inside of her was raging, and the power in her body felt like it was going to make her burst. The shards of glass were willingly removing themselves from Yang before making a quick loop back to strike again in an infinite cycle of attacks. Glynda stood a few feet back twirling her crop in a small circle in front of her.

The pressure was building, and Yang needed a release. With all the strength she could call upon, she ignored the glass shards and slammed her fist together. The eruption of power felt invigorating, like it always did. The force knocked the shards away, ceasing their onslaught and blowing them into smaller pieces. Her hair burned with aura and she could feel it flowing through her muscles, repairing and energizing them as it traveled through her body, rather than just being a static presence within her.

Glynda held one of her hands in front of her face. Her eyes were wide and her jaw slack as she stood, dumbfounded. The brawler took advantage of her confusion and shifted one of her gauntlets back and fired, its powerful blast launching her forward.

Glynda shook herself and prepared for the attack. She waved her crop down, but instead of something coming at Yang, she felt herself being pulled to the ground, like she was being crushed under the weight of the ceiling.

Her steps slowed, and her face twisted into an unpleasant grimace. Her muscles were pulled taut. She could feel them on the verge of snapping, but kept forcing herself forward.

With one final rush, her knuckles cracked against Glynda's jaw. The teacher stumbled back, glasses knocked askew and hair falling over her face. Yang couldn't appreciate her strike for more than a second before falling to the ground, unable to move.

"Yang, how did you do that?" Yang recognized that she was being talked to, and let her bloodlust die down.

"What do you mean? My semblance? Didn't we cover that in, like, the second week of school?"

"Yes, I know, but how did you use it just now?" Her voice grew firmer as Yang stared back uncomprehendingly. "Vampires can't use aura or semblance after they turn, so how did you use it?"

"Just the same as always. Why? Is this a big deal or something?"

Glynda didn't answer her directly. Instead, she released Yang from her attack and took a few steps back as she pulled out her scroll to summon Ozpin back.

He returned in only a few minutes, long enough for Yang's body to fully heal, and her semblance to die down again. The headmaster walked through the elevator door, his cane tucked under his arm as he sipped a mug in one hand, and read from a large leather-bound book in the other.

He looked up at Glynda and asked what was so important. The book slapped shut and was safely placed in a firm hold next to his body while he took another sip of his drink.

"Yang here can use her aura and semblance."

"Are you sure?" He asked, but Glynda's glare, that he was questioning her silenced his doubt.

"Yeah I guess this is my bad," Yang commented, scratching the back of her head in slight embarrassment, "I could always use it normally so I didn't even realize that was even a thing."

"This is most interesting. I'll be sure to inform to the rest of the order, but for the moment, I've discovered I was wrong before." Holding up the book that proved him a liar. "Though all vampires can use their abilities, they normally only have one that comes to them naturally. That could be why you're having such a hard time using your new abilities. It isn't unlike a muscle; once you strengthen it, you can use your abilities more easily. But you should have one that you don't even need to think about."

"Well that explains why Ruby can morph her body so easily." Yang commented to herself, trying to not actually interrupt.

"The fact you can use your aura and semblance leads me to believe that this is your natural talent."

"From gimped to special snowflake." Yang boasted, cheering herself up, but Ozpin knew he was about to crush that good spirit.

"Yes, quite. Might you have happened to have seen the news this morning?"

Yang asked why it mattered, but Glynda was already tapping on her scroll to bring up the story he was referring to. Yang didn't really like the news, most of the stuff was either irrelevant to her or didn't interest her enough to pay attention to. This report, however, sent a shiver down her spine as the reported onscreen started to talk.

"As of this morning, five people have been found In the Vale River, dead. All of the victims had two puncture wounds in their necks and appeared to have been drained of blood before being dumped in the river. Three victims were found near the factory district, while the other two were closer to the residential area."

A moment later, pictures of five different individuals appeared on the screen. Yang immediately recognized two of the wrinkled pale faces as the women that she saw with the man last night.

"The three found by the factory district also had their necks snapped in a way that it deemed uncharacteristic for whom the newspapers are now calling, "The Vampire of Vale," due to bodies found being drained of blood. It is thought that they were potentially witnesses to the previous two incidents. Police are issuing a 'Code Yellow,' citizens are recommended to cease public activities after sundown and return to their homes. If the killer remains uncaught, this will be stepped up to a 'Code Orange' which will force the public to-"

Yang closed it out, hearing what she needed too. Only the strength of her will let her hand the scroll back to Glynda instead of smashing it on the floor at her feet.

Her anger was plain to see. She couldn't hide it, even if she wanted to. As soon as the scroll was out of her hands, she turned away from the two adults, trying to keep herself from shouting.

"I know how you're feeling. Believe me, I had just as little patience when I was just starting. Its better we let the vampire go after gaining some information than to prematurely attack. You need to train more before-"

Ozpin's voice was infuriatingly calm, and Yang felt the urge to turn around and lash out at him when she felt his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged off his hand and took a step away, unable to contain herself any longer.

"How can you be so calm? We had him! He was right in front of us! I was going after him, and you…"

Her voice trailed off, and she turned back.

Her breathing was heavy, in spite of the fact she didn't need the air.

"I could have saved Ruby! I could have killed him right there!"

She threw a punch, wild and uncontrolled. Ozpin didn't dodge out of the way, nor did he raise his weapon to defend himself. Instead, Glynda waved her crop in a wide slash, and Yang was blasted back, pinned to the floor again by a force she couldn't see.

She struggled to stand, but had no luck. Glynda was suddenly by her side, obviously making use of every iota of restraint she had, and finding that it wasn't enough.

"How dare you try something so cowardly? Do you have any idea-"

She stopped short when Ozpin put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back gently, saying, "Glynda, please."

She looked from the Headmaster to Yang, then back again, an expression of anger playing across her face. Ozpin nodded slowly, peering back with the utmost composure.

After several; moments, Glynda sighed and averted her gaze, muttering, "Fine, fine, you know best."

Glynda didn't let Yang go, but Ozpin did step over to her side, kneeling down next to her.

"Yang, you must understand; the time simply was not right. I want to get Ruby back just as much as you. She's my student, and I would give myself to save her in an instant, but there is no point in fighting a losing battle."

Yang's breathing slowed, and her struggles became less frantic.

"You don't know if it was a losing battle! You've never seen him fight. We could have taken him out right there."

She stared back at Ozpin, trying to make him get it. They should have at least taken a chance, it would've been better than those people dying.

He sighed, thinking for a moment before rubbing his eyes.

"I understand your confusion, but really, I've been doing this for a long time. That was not a situation where attacking an elder vampire could have gone well. Imagine how easily the walls of the houses nearby would have crumbled, and more innocents dragged into the situation. He could have killed countless people in that battle."

As much as Yang tried to stay angry, she couldn't. She understood Ozpin, but she couldn't stand leaving Ruby to what had happened. A few more seconds of silence passed as Ozpin waited for some response. After it was clear she wasn't going to say anything, he spoke again.

"Now, I'm sure I could convince Professor Goodwitch to let you go, but you have to calm down. Can you do that?"

She wanted to keep fighting, but the futility of the situation was starting to sink in. Hesitantly, she nodded, and tried to make herself calm.

Ozpin stared down, making sure that she relaxed as much as she could before turning to Glynda and giving a small nod. Yang felt the force on her starting to loosen, then lift entirely, and she pushed herself up without hesitation. The two adults kept a wary gaze on her, but she felt in-control enough that she wasn't going to try anything else.

When she was able to move again, she stood, knowing that if it were possible, her face would be a bright red. She averted her eyes as she rubbed the back of her head, saying, "Sorry about that. I just… I want this to be over. I want things to go back to how they were before."

Suddenly, her limbs felt too heavy to lift. She was so tired, she wished she could just curl up and go to sleep. Maybe all of what had happened would just turn out to have been a bad dream.

Her desire to sit didn't overpower her, though, and she looked back to Ozpin when he continued to speak.

"Now, can I trust that there will be no more outbursts?" Yang nodded, and noticed that Glynda had nodded too. "Good. Well, Glynda, I would hate for you to be late to class."

The teacher looked from Ozpin to Yang, a doubtful expression on her face, before nodding to Ozpin and saying, "Very well. Thank you, Sir. Good luck."

With that, she turned towards the exit, and walked briskly from the room. Ozpin watched her go, taking a sip from his mug, then turned back to Yang. "Right, now perhaps it would be best best for you to focus on making use of your aura in combat. It should give you the edge of surprise you need. Now, let me see what she worked on with you."

She showed him how Glynda had forced the semblance out of her, answering every question about the process that Ozpin asked, and seeming to explain every minute part in excruciating detail. When she was done, Ozpin only nodded, and said, "Well, I suppose we should get back to work, then, shouldn't we?"

For a moment, she thought she heard a little of Uncle Qrow's special brand of snark, but she couldn't be sure. It didn't matter, though, as Ozpin wasted no time in picking up the beating exactly where he'd left off.

What few attempts she made at using her vampiric powers in the midst of the fight only resulted in her getting smacked around more. They took far too much of her focus away from the fight, and left her wide open to attack. Instead, she focused on her aura, deflecting what damage she could, and using the rest to fuel her semblance. Every bruise and cut she took built her up more, and even though the injuries faded moments after they were inflicted, the energy they gave her lasted until she used it.

Ozpin wasn't a fool, he saw what was going on. His strikes became more sparing, but harder every time, carefully picked to disable Yang as much as possible. She struggled to keep her semblance going, and it wasn't long before Yang was playing an all new tactic; she forced herself on him more and more aggressively, forcing him to parry and counter to avoid being struck himself.

As if in spite of all her efforts, she still could not hit him. His focus was almost completely on preserving himself. Yang wasn't sure, but it seemed like he was doing it only to annoy her.

This continued for hours, Ozpin never showing the slightest sign of fatigue no matter how hard Yang pushed him. He always met her with just enough force to stop her blow, or kept just at the edge of her range.

When he had finally called a halt to the exercise, Yang felt severely underprepared to fight a vampire. If she couldn't hit a regular man like Ozpin, she didn't seem to stand a chance.

Ozpin pulled up his sleeve, looking at his watch before saying, "Huh, time really does fly, doesn't it? It's almost evening." He looked back up at Yang, giving her a small smile. She didn't feel like returning it. Instead, she let out a deep sigh, putting her hand to her head in frustration.

"Can I really do this? I mean, you're the vampire hunter here, you're coming with me, right? I bet Dracul couldn't lay a finger on you!"

Ozpin shook his head, laughing slightly. "No, I'm afraid I won't be going out tonight. There's quite a bit of work to do, and my having put it off all day won't have lightened the load. I suggest you stay in too, and get more practice. I cannot, of course, keep you here, should you choose to leave. I only ask that you think carefully about what you do next."

Yang's eyes narrowed. It seemed like he wanted her to go, but she wasn't sure.

Ozpin walked towards the door, motioning for her to follow. She did, and when he reached it, he held it open, saying, "I believe you know the way out."

Yang could only stare back. "You're serious?"

Ozpin rose an eyebrow, then said, "Yes, quite. I'm not joking around, I let the paperwork build quite monstrously today. You could come with me to my office and help, I suppose, but something makes me doubt that you'd have a very enjoyable time. How are you at alphabetizing?"

Little could have made Yang leave faster. She beat a hasty retreat back to her dorm room, and once she was there, she found herself alone again. The blood on the carpet was an unpleasant reminder of what had happened, and she tried to ignore the bathroom altogether.

She had the full intent to go out. If she found the vampire, she was sure Ozpin would put down his work to help. While she waited for the sun to fully retreat from the sky, she pulled out her scroll and started doing so research. Finding info on her quarry was easy enough, though his killing weren't actually as regular as Yang would have thought. He only seemed to feed once every few weeks and the bodies were always dumped in or near the residential area. No bruises, or signs of struggle, nothing in the victim's bodies to suggest drugs or any other substances. He must have used that enthralling thing Ruby did to her friends when he did the actual deed.

The sun set sooner than she expected, a clear sign that winter would be coming to Vale in a few weeks. She stood and made her way outside and quickly headed to the garage so she could ride into town. No pilot came to offer her a ride this time into town, but that was probably for the better. After the initial drop off it was always slow going after.

As she pulled Bumblebee out of the garage, she cast one last glance up at Ozpin's office, nestled gently at the top of the clock tower. It glowed with a warm green light, and in the window, she was sure she could see a figure standing, staring down at her. Normally she would have felt creeped out, but she thought she knew who it was. It was almost comforting, in a weird guardian angel kind of way. She knew his gaze wouldn't follow her away from the school, though. She turned, and headed off, trying to keep her focus as sharp as possible.

The quiet of the road both helped her relax and made her anxiety grow. She let the bike go a little faster than she was supposed to be. Normally she did her best to follow the laws, but the road was empty and she was burning twilight getting there. The residential area didn't require her to cross the river to get to it, but was in the center of the city. She loved Vale, but one thing she would always hate it for was how long the traffic lights were.

A parking spot was easy enough to find, and when she finally did arrive, she found the place where she'd met the man the night before. She could remember his stupid sleazy face, and the way he had those women fawning over him. It made her even sicker to think of now that she knew his real intent with the women.

Time seemed to slip away faster than she could handle. Seconds rolled into minutes, and she knew that no matter how frantically she looked, she couldn't search through the whole residential district. After what seemed to be nothing but a blur in her mind, she found herself sprinting through alleyways, kicking trash cans over and flipping dumpsters. She wasn't even sure why she was doing it, there was no chance of finding Dracul that way.

She brought herself to a stop, breathing heavily as she tried to bring herself back to reason. Her time was limited, so she didn't have the time to spare to freak out. She tried to think logically. Nothing would come of continuing to poke around the residential area, she was sure of it, but that wasn't the only lead she had. In the industrial district, the other bodies had been found. If she had the slightest hope of finding Dracul, it would be there.

Yang made her way back to Bumblebee as fast as she could, knowing that she would have to cross one of the overpasses on the river. The bike's ignition growled through the mostly quiet night, and the sound of its tires screeching against the street split through the darkness, echoing off windows and through alleys as she jerked to a start before speeding off.

Without the usual traffic of the daytime, she tore a path to the overpass, taking turns so sharp she almost crashed into the sidewalk. When she reached it, she slowed, eyeing the obstacle. It was a straight shot across, but she knew she would be unable to endure going carefully across. It would take far too much time, and be much too dangerous.

She could practically hear Weiss in the back of her head, calling her a colorful variety of names for what she was about to do. She didn't see any other way, though. And besides, she was a vampire, it wasn't like something like this would kill her.

At least, she hoped not.

With a quiet resolve, she turned the bike around, putting some distance between herself and the bridge. Once she had a good distance, she turned again, and revved Bumblebee's engine. Her eyes narrowed again as she locked her gaze on the other side of the river, sure that if this didn't work, it would at least get her almost to the other side.

A drunk group standing in front of a nearby bar recognized what she was about to do and started hollering in support. She ignored them, and twisted her wrists back.

The smell of burning rubber filled the air almost immediately. Holding on to the bike became infinitely harder, and the other side of the overpass started to rapidly approach.

As Bumblebee's tires met with the incline, Yang felt her strength start to fade. Her grip on the bike loosened, but she kept her eyes forward. In the short seconds she'd been moving, she had gone from stationary to a startling speed. The handlebar started to wobble slightly, but she was quick to correct its deviations.

As the road leveled out, she started to pass directly over the river. Her peripherals started to fade out, and her fingers felt stiff. She gritted her teeth, biting her cheek in an attempt to keep herself conscious enough to continue.

It didn't help much, considering she couldn't feel the pain. Her hands slipped from the handlebars, and she started to slough over. She tried to fight the exhausting force, but found it was impossible to do anything, even move.

When the bike was about half way across the bridge, its front wheel started to shake violently, and the whole thing started to tip. Yang could only watch through barely open eyes as her ride toppled to the ground, starting to lose speed. The only thing that Yang could solidly think was that it was a mistake to not have worn her helmet.

Metal ground against the road, making a terrible screeching sound, throwing up paint chips and sparks as she went. Her skin that touched the road was stripped away or burned by the immense friction, her vest was taking a lot of abuse, but was still holding together and protecting the skin underneath.

In the time it would have taken her to blink, the bike encountered some imperceptible fault in the road, and it jolted violently. Yang was thrown into the air, the dim sensation of air flowing through her golden hair her only indication of her direction.

When she felt her body hit the ground again, she felt a pop in her shoulder, and something in her wrist snapped. She continued to tumble and skid for several seconds before her momentum stopped.

When she stopped moving, she picked her head up off the street as best she could, noting that one eye now seemed totally incapable of focusing, even beyond the great fatigue the river caused.

She was able to move, though, and slowly turned her head around. The bike was standing on its two wheels thanks to its gyrosphere, but the handle bar had been broken. The side panel was missing too, and it looked like some engine bits had been broken off with it. It was fixable, but now Yang was regretting picking the first idea that came to her head.

She groaned as she pulled her legs up under her. Everything tingled with what was probably supposed to be pain, but nothing made her feel too banged up. Pushing herself off the ground wasn't too hard, but she was certain that her wrist had been broken. On top of that, she could feel her shoulder hanging from its socket. It wasn't the first time, but now Yang was sure she could take care of it herself.

Popping the limb back into place was easy, and she rolled it a few times before swaying unsteadily. She was still close to the water, and she couldn't spare the time to stop. Her plan hadn't been a complete failure, she was close enough to the other side that she wasn't completely paralyzed, and she was sure that as soon as she got to the other side, the damage she'd taken would just iron itself out.

Her eye, however, was still bothering her. The blurriness was lasting too long to simply be from the crash, and she wasn't sure if she could even get concussions anymore. The blur only seemed to be present in her right eye as well, which made it even stranger. As she crawled, she wondered if it had been damaged in some way. One hand made its way up, and felt at the top of her eyelid.

A sharp glass edge met her fingertip, and her vision from the right eye seemed to shift dramatically. She flinched, hesitated a moment, then remembered that she would be able to regenerate almost anything after getting off the bridge.

Her fingers made a sickening squelching sound as she tried to get a good hold on the glass, and her vision in the eye went dark completely. She didn't let herself stop, and soon was holding a sharp edge of what had been a part of her windshield moments before. When she saw the gelatinous goop clinging to its edges, she tossed it away while letting out a gag, returning her focus to getting off the bridge.

As she got further away, she felt her body starting to gain some energy back. It wasn't until she got the incline of the overpass that she felt like she wasn't going to topple over. When she looked down at herself she saw that the damage was starting to heal, but it was probably going to take a few minutes before everything, especially her eye, was back to one hundred percent functionality.

By the time she reached the regular street again, she was able to stand. The haze was, for the most part, gone, and walking was rapidly becoming far less dizzying. Her body felt very heavy though, like how she would feel after a long day of playing with Ruby, all the healing must have had some kind of toll on her. She caught herself more than once smacking her lips as she made her way down the street, and repressed any thoughts about how thirsty she was starting to feel.

She wasn't that far gone. Not yet.

The industrial district was a lot more quiet than the residential district, but that figured. Everything stopped for the night, or, at least, most of it did. A few distant rumbles of machines were still audible, coming from somewhere far away.

She wasn't worried about that, though. She needed to find Dracul and end the nightmare that had become her life as of late. She put her attention towards trying to sense Dracul, even though she wasn't sure how the power itself worked. Nothing felt particularly out of the ordinary, except for the feeling of her eyeball knitting itself back together. Her vision was coming back, albeit slowly. She would need everything she could get to fight Dracul, she was sure of that much.

She kept walking, sure that Dracul had to be around somewhere. The address the bodies had been found at wasn't far from where she was, and she decided that it would be the best place to look. She started to run, not wasting any more time.

Street lights and factory buildings whizzed past as she rocketed herself down the street, but no sign of the vampire showed itself. It was several minutes before Yang felt something, and when she did, she stopped dead in her tracks.

The undeniable feeling of being watched washed over her as she turned a corner, and her head turned almost automatically to face an alleyway to her right.

A tall figure stood at the other end, about twenty feet away, silhouetted by a dimly flickering light slightly above their head. Their eyes almost seemed to glow through the night at her, sending a chill up her spine.

Ozpin's caution about attacking innocents echoed through her mind, but there was no mistake here. What she was looking at had to be a vampire, there was nothing else it could be. Without a second thought, she charged, bringing her fists up and cocking Ember Celica back to deliver a fiery strike. The figure remained, unfazed by her sudden attack. As her gauntlet let out a roar, spitting glowing hot dust in their direction, Yang could have sworn that she saw an eyebrow raise before the figure disappeared down a path Yang hadn't seen from her angle.

Whoever they were, they moved fast enough that Yang could hardly follow fast enough to keep up. The dust round hit the brick wall behind where they'd been standing, knocking a sizeable crater into its structure and blackening the already peeling paint. Yang was quick behind it, not happy about the idea of losing her prey so fast.

As she turned the corner, she found the figure standing much closer than she'd expected. Its hands were up, displaying thin, spider-like fingers, and dark, sunken eyes looked down at her. Pale lips were stretched in a coy smile, giving the colorless face a kind of calculated intimidation.

Its lips parted, and began to speak before Yang could react.

"Well, well, well, I see that Miss Rose couldn't keep well enough to herself. I can't say I'm surprised."

Yang threw another punch, aimed directly at the individual's head, but in the moment it should have hit, he moved his head away leisurely, as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

"I saw your little 'accident' on the bridge. Tip for the future, go along the support rails, or better yet, fly over. The more distance you can put between you and the water, the better. You've got potential, I'm sure. Your sister's natural talents must have rubbed off on you somehow. Maybe you would be a little more open to the deal I offered her, hm?"

Yang didn't pause in her assault. Nothing Dracul said was going to convince her to stop. He didn't just deserve to die, he needed to die. He dodged a few more strikes just as easily as the first, rolling his eyes as he did so.

"You know, you could stand to work on your listening skills. Perhaps this is not a good place for a talk. I'll meet you elsewhere. Follow me, if you're interested."

With that, he dashed backwards, and as Yang tried to grab him, she felt the fabric of his clothes slip through her fingers. As he swiftly disappeared, Yang called out, "Get back here! I'm not done with you!"

She gave chase, throwing punches and firing rounds at every convenience. He would jump to the top of a building with little effort, while Yang would have to leap from wall to wall just to keep up.

After a minute of chase, Dracul stopped, saying, "Alright that's enough fun, time to get to business," before his body dissolved into a black mist. Yang threw a punch, but her actual blow did nothing. The only reaction was from the roar of fire that followed. It wasn't enough, and the mist slipped through the cracks in a nearby skylight and into the factory below.

Yang knelt down, checking for any kind of trickery, before kicking in the glass and jumping down in pursuit. The building was black, save the skylight above shining down moon light. Despite the darkness, Yang could see every detail perfectly, and saw her prey sitting on top of a box, looking directly at her.

"Sit down for a moment. You can go back to trying to kill me later, just listen for a second." Yang let out a growl in displeasure, but did so anyways. She was on his turf now, and she wouldn't be surprised if he had more than a couple traps prepared.

"Good. If only your sister listened as well as you did." He commented before placing his hand to his face. Black mist erupted from his body for a moment before settling. Yang took up a defensive stance, but stopped herself from reacting until she was sure he was trying to attack.

Dracul's features changed completely. Where before he clearly looks slightly inhuman, now he seemed indistinguishable from one. His eyes were a light blue, his hair had grown long and black, flowing with natural waves. Pointed nose, a chiseled face and a well-kept short beard. Yang would admit he was certainly very handsome, but didn't let that hold any water about how she felt toward him.

"Holding disguises is one thing you'll never get used to. I've been doing this for a long time and it never gets easier to maintain them."

"You wanted to talk. So just get to the point. I don't have all night."

"Agreed, let's get to it. Would you please stop trying to kill me?"

"What? I mean, no!" She replied, caught slightly off guard that he would just try asking.

He shrugged to himself before continuing, "As I suspected, but you never know. There may be an occasion when my good manners are rewarded. Very well then, what do I need to do to get you off my case? Turn your friends and family? Money? I have means of getting all kinds of things, so if you're willing to just go somewhere else and leave Vale, I'm willing to bend over to get it."

Yang couldn't believe what she was hearing. This monster she had imagined in her head was practically begging her to let him live. She couldn't tell if it was some kind of act, an honest attempt at a business deal, or if he was really that pathetic.

"Are you really just asking me to leave you alone? I don't think that a vampire Ozpin is hesitant to fight could be as pathetic as you."

"Think what you will about me, it means little. And the reason I'm just asking is because I don't want to deal with a runt like you. The man who turned me let me live because I was strong enough to break his grip. That's a policy I have kept for the few 'children' I've had. It's the only reason your sister still lives… Well, maybe lives isn't the right word, but you understand. I could easily kill you and your sister, but why go to the trouble when I could just have you leave me in peace? Who knows, maybe you'll be reckless like the others and scare people out of your communities and into Vale. That's the only thing you brats are good for, it seems."

"And if I keep trying to kill you?"

"Then I guess I'll have to kill you, and despite how she acts, your sister still cares about you and your little friends she enthralled. She'll find out eventually and come hunting for me in vengeance, and it'll just be too much of a bother. I came Vale to get away from all the work you have to do out in the wilds."

"Guess I'm going to have to go break your heart then!" She said with a grin as she resumed her combat stance.

Dracul but a hand to his head and started rubbing his temple, "That was a terrible pun, and I would know, There was a town fool long ago that annoyed me to the point that I ripped his head off and put it on a spike. Didn't even drink his blood."

"You talk too much."

"And you're a simple minded fool who has yet to realize what a boon she has."

"It's not a boon! It's a curse!" She yelled back.

"I think your sister would disagree with you on that." He paused for a moment, smiling. " Don't believe me? You can just ask her. She's only two buildings over."

"What!" Yang yelled, the revelation completely changing her mode of thought.

"Yes, take the door behind you, make a left and it'll be the second building on your left. The one with the overwhelming smell of blood."

Yang was gone before he even finished. He sighed as he watched her go. Standing, Dracul brushed off his cloths and made his way out, not at all intending to be here if his daughter decided she wanted to fight him too. He stepped up to the door, but paused as someone else entered the frame first.

"Leaving so soon? I had popcorn and everything set up, and I'm not leaving till I have a show."

"It's never easy, is it?" He growled at the figure.

Author's Note:

As with every other chapter, Leivve was a massive help. wouldn't happen without you, bro.

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