"Hey, Kid," Reeves stood at the other end of the room, silhouetted within the frame of the door. He stepped into the room, his boots barely making a sound.

"Reeves," she said, sitting up straighter. He sat on one of the few chairs in her room—a hotel room, grimy and dark and uninviting. The opposite of a home. Hunters never stayed in one place too long. After a moment of neither of them speaking, she continued her task of cleaning her firearm, always keeping Reeves in her peripheral vision.

Outside the heavens poured, hitting the dirty window with wind and rain, causing abstract paintings to dance across the floor and walls to nature's music outside.

"I've got a job for you," he said, finally breaking the silence between them.

She glanced at him out of the corners of her eyes, keeping her head down and focused on her task.

"A big one," he said.

She turned her head upwards, narrowing her eyes. "Why me?" she asked. "Who's the mark?"

"One of the Haddock Clan," Reeves answered.

Astrid's cloth stilled for a moment, her gaze intense. For a moment, she felt her heart quicken, blood pulsing slightly faster than normal. She quickly calmed her heartrate, berating herself for the foolish action. "And you want me to go after it?" she asked, not letting her excitement—and hope—enter her voice. The last thing she needed was Reeves thinking she owed him.

Reeves leaned back in the chair. "It's the heir," he said quietly. "Hiccup Haddock the Third. Son of Stoick the Vast himself." He leaned forward now, leather gloved hand leaning on a bandaged knee. "Think of that, Astrid. Think what it'd be like to deliver a blow like that."

"It'd be pretty great," she said without much gusto, not revealing the many different options she was going through in her mind. Deciding the most painful way to kill this vampire.

The only question that remained was, why Reeves came to her for it. She knew the answer to that already. He wanted her to owe him. He knew Haddock's whereabouts. He knew how to find him and how to kill him. He won't give her that information without a price.

That was hunter's code.

"What do you want?" she said, putting down the piece of her firearm she had been cleaning, and giving Reeves a straight look.

Reeves leaned back in his seat, looking slightly smug. "So you want the job?" he asked.

"Reeves."

"Alright," he put his hands up. "You've got it. And as for what I want—well, that can come at a later time. Let's just say you owe me, Kid. You owe me big. And when it's time to cash in, you'll know."

She didn't like the sound of that. But this was too good an opportunity to pass up. She would not miss this, no matter the price.

"He's right here in town," Reeves said. "Don't know what he's doing here—none of his compadres are here, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't even have caught word—if not for…." He trailed off for a moment, searching for right words. "Word on the street," he finished finally, folding his hands over his stomach, seemingly to lounge farther back in the seat.

She finally nodded. "I'll take whatever price you throw at me," she said, knowing, whatever that might be, it would be worth it.

"Good," he said. "He's at L'hôtel bleu. Room 25C. Kanata and I will go as backup."

"I don't need backup," she said, her voice biting.

"Kid," he put his hands up. "This is one of the Haddocks—they're old school. Rumor has it they date back to the Viking Age. You don't want to fuck around with them."

"Fine," she said, beginning to assemble her firearm. "But you're staying out of the building. I'll let you know on the radio if I need you."

"If you live long enough for that," he said, standing up slowly. "Well, when do you want to head out?"

"As soon as I got my gear on," she said.

"See you downstairs, then," Reeves said, turning and walking out of the room. She watched him go, looking at the old door.

It struck her as odd that Reeves would come to her with this. Hunters were not sentimental, not about other people, and certainly not about other hunters. He could have gone to anyone with this information. Anyone would have given their good leg to get a chance to take down someone from the Haddock Clan.

But he came to her. Whatever he wants from her, it must be big.

She got up from the bed and set to assembling her gear. This was a chance in a lifetime. What she had been trained for since she was just a child. Since that day of blood and fire and death.

She would kill Hiccup Haddock the Third, and the Haddocks would finally know what it feels like to lose something.

And then she'd come for the rest of them.

So they'd lose everything.

The suppressor was on—she didn't want any unnecessary attention from the other hotel patrons and staff. She pulled herself onto the grated floor of the fire escape, looking inside. It was an odd place for a vampire to sleep. Often, especially those vampires of old blood—and the Haddocks were old blood—stayed in extravagant places. While not as bad as her own current sleeping place, this place was just… average. She leaned against the outer wall of the hotel, clicking on the heat sensors on her goggles.

There were two beings inside the room. One was definitely a vampire. She could tell by the heat signatures that were too low to be a fully living being. The other was much smaller, and also, oddly enough, had similar heat signatures. Was it an animal? She heard of the older generations being able to create 'familiars' of sorts. That might make this more difficult.

She contemplated signaling Reeves and Kanata to come with her during the initial assault—but decided she would risk it. This was her revenge. She wasn't going to share its sweet taste with those two assholes.

Vampires of a certain age and pedigree were not of the same stock that she was used to hunting. Usually, newer vampires were slower, not as intelligent, and not as skilled or strong as their older counterparts. It made them easier to hunt. Rumor had it this particular vampire dated back as far as his family did—she had no idea what she was up against. She had no idea if she would even survive.

She cleared her mind of those thoughts, for it made her heartrate quicken slightly—a mistake, when hunting those who feed on blood. She would not risk opening the window—vampires generally had heightened hearing and senses. She didn't want to give him a head start to attack her. He might already know she was there.

As if in response to her thoughts, a light turned on in the room, and she flattened herself against the wall, gripping her guns tighter. It was now or never—he must know she was here. Better get it over with before she loses every upper hand at her disposal.

She thrust herself away from the wall, turning to face the window, and shot the glass—three times. When a large enough hole was created, she jumped through, her thick leather coat and gloves and pants keeping the glass from cutting her. Her face received a few cuts, though—mistake, she thought to herself, as she landed with a roll and stood quickly, guns at the ready. He might be hungry.

Suddenly something flew towards her—and at first she thought it was a bat—but realized it was something else. Bat-like in appearance but with four legs and two wings, instead of two legs and two clawed wings. She shot wildly, completely taken aback by the sudden, and unpredictable, attack of the creature flying about her head. She heard the creature give a small, shrill cry, though she knew it was just the barrel of her gun that hit it, not a bullet, before crashing into a wall, and landing on the ground. She stared at it. Black—it looked bat-like enough. And yet she could not quite believe that it was a bat—

She sensed movement on the other side of the room, and quickly berated herself for falling for what was obviously a distraction tactic. She lifted her arms up, pointing in the direction of the movement. In her desperate attempt to get the small creature away, she had shot out the light, sending everything into darkness. The only light was the moon, and even then, it was hidden by stormy clouds much of the time.

With her heat sensors, she could see the vampire—Haddock—standing in the corner, frozen. Why? She thought to herself. Why was he not moving? Why was he just… cowering?

"Come out!" she said, firing a shot.

The vampire instantaneously left her heat vision—and reappeared on the opposite wall. He avoided her attack—easily, but he still was not attacking. He could seemingly easily outrun bullets—she holstered her guns quickly and drew out her hunting knife. She ran towards the vampire, and spun when he tried out maneuver around her.

He gave out a yelp as she attempted—and missed—to slash at him.

"Hold on—" a slightly nasal-intoned voice said, as the vampire backed away from her. "Why don't you—try to—just—put the knife—down?"

She paused. He was illuminated in the moonlight streaming in through the windows. From here, she could see him clearly. He was tall, taller than her by a good few inches. He had messy auburn hair, a severely freckled face, and was wearing a green sweatshirt and brown pants. His eyes, though, were what were the most startling. Bright green and almost seeming to glow in the moonlight. His hands were up in a surrender position, a pleading look on his face. "Maybe we can just… talk it out?" he suggested, with a hopeful half smile.

Her arms lowered slightly, before she raised them again. "I won't fall for that."

"Fall for… what?" he looked confused.

"I know what you're trying to do," she said. "You're trying to distract me."

"I'm—I'm really not—look, I don't really feel like dying tonight and I really don't feel like hurting you, but—"

"Don't be ridiculous," she interrupted.

"What?"

"You're…" she trailed off. "You're a vampire."

She reached up and pressed the control, turning off her heat vision so she could better see his face. She pushed up her goggles. He seemed genuine.

"We're not all murderous monsters," he said, and from the tone in his voice, Astrid knew this was a sore subject for him.

"In my experience," Astrid said, reaching down and taking one of her guns from its holster. "Anything that kills people for its food is a monster."

"I don't kill people for food," the vampire said, "Or at all."

"I highly doubt that," she answered.

"It's true—it's true!" he said, taking a hasty step away from her as she raised her gun and pointed it at his chest. "I only drink animal blood—and even then only when I have to."

She narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

"I'm telling the truth—in fact, I'm here, because I'm trying to get away from that kind of vampire," he said, his hands pointing wildly at nothing in particular as he spoke.

"What, your family?" she scoffed.

"Not my family," the vampire said. "Some others. Not all vampires get along. I happen to have a price on my head."

She allowed herself a glance around the room, realizing that the vampire might have a point. This was not the typical place a vampire stayed the night, if they could help it. And she heard that the vampire community were often at odds with each other. "What did you do?"

"I…" he took a small breath, "I let someone's prey go—helped her escape. Anyway, it turned out to be this 'big deal' and now a lot of people want me dead."

She raised her eyebrows, training her gun on him again. His hands quivered before her, and he looked… frightened. She realized, with a shock, that he truly had no intentions of hurting her. And he could, easily, especially with her guard down like this.

"I… I won't hurt you," he said, as if reading her thoughts—maybe he could, she thought. "I swear, I just want to stay alive."

Something shuffled a little ways off, and the small creature walked into the moonlight. From here, she could see it was certainly not a bat. "What is that thing?" she asked.

"Toothless," he said. "My familiar."

"So that's true? The whole… familiar thing?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's true," he said, as he picked up the small creature. He walked over with deliberate slowness and sat down on the bed. "You won't kill me?"

She kept her gun trained on him, before lowering it reluctantly.

"I could use someone to talk to, to be honest," he said.

Her arm dropped to her side in shock, before she very slowly holstered her weapon for a second time. She sheathed her knife, and stood waiting, unsure and unbelieving of how she got herself into this mess. This was supposed to be her dream come true. Her chance at revenge. Her chance to make a name for herself in her community. Instead she suddenly found herself acting the therapist for a vampire.

"I wouldn't expect a human to understand," the vampire said, "But there are rules that vampires have to adhere to. Rules that have no words or translations. Anyway, I broke a few of those rules—when I let someone's prey go. He was going to do terrible things to her, and when he was done, he was going to turn her. I couldn't… I couldn't let him do that. So I helped her escape."

"Then why isn't she here now?" Astrid asked.

"She died," the vampire shrugged, although he looked tormented over this fact for a moment. "She was killed easily—a downfall of being human. I escaped, but it was too dangerous for me to go home. So I've been traveling around—trying not to get caught by the vampires tracking me. Or the vampire hunters tracking me," he nodded in her direction.

"I'm…" Astrid began, before shuffling on her feet uncomfortably. The crowd she generally hung around were not ones of sweet words and comforts. "I'm sorry for your loss."

He shrugged. "I didn't actually know her that well," he said. "I just… couldn't stand to see anyone put through all that."

"Still," she said, walking over and sitting beside him. "It must be…"

She stopped herself, wondering why she was comforting him. Him, a vampire. She should kill him while she had the chance. If she were any other hunter, she would have. But there was something that stopped her. Something that kept her from grabbing her gun and pulling the trigger.

He was so different from what she expected. So different from any other vampire she had ever come across or heard about. He was almost human, in a way. He had…compassion.

Her radio buzzed in her ear, and she heard Reeves say over the connection, "You okay, Kid? It's kind of silent up there. The coppers are gonna' show up any minute after the racket you made a little while ago."

The vampire glanced at her. "Those your hunter friends?"

She scowled, deciding against answering Reeves. "Yeah," she told the vampire seated next to her. "And if I don't kill you they'll come up here and kill you themselves."

The vampire looked startled at this, looking away quickly, before he said, tentatively, "Uh… why?"

"Cause you're a vampire," she said, standing, "And because every hunter has a bone to pick with your clan."

"I don't see how that has anything to do me," he said. Something flitted across the moon, quickly and silently. He stood up with a speed and grace she would never be capable of. "They're here," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

She glanced out the window, pulling down her goggles and activating the heat sensors. She could see three low heat bodies outside, on the rooftops. "Shit," she said, fingers inching for her guns. She should inform Reeves and Kanata that there were more vampires outside. There was no way she would survive an attack from four. She glanced at the vampire before her, whose face had somehow managed to pale further than its already pasty complexion. He looked absolutely terrified. Three vampires, she thought. And she didn't think Haddock would be very helpful at defending against them.

She opened the radio link, "Three vampires, Reeves, to your four, six and eight o'clock."

"What?" came Reeves' voice, and then after a moment, "Shit. Alright. I think Kanata and I can handle things out here. When you take care of the Haddock, come back us up."

"You got it," she said, and the link between them was closed. She pushed up her goggles.

She looked at the vampire. He was gazing at her with a slightly petrified look. "Are you going to kill me?" he asked.

She realized she stood at a crossroads. She glanced out the window, to the dimly lit buildings outside, and heard gunshots as Reeves and Kanata began to engage the vampires.

And she realized there were no crossroads. She had already decided which road she was going to take. The moment the vampire had opened up to her. She grabbed the small creature—Toothless—and shoved him into Hiccup's arms. "I'm going to get you out of here," she told Hiccup, pulling down her goggles and grabbing his arm, getting to the door quickly and opening it, leading them down the hall as fast as she could run.

Hi! This is a story that is being posted on AO 3, but I decided to cross post it here as well. I'll be posting the first three chapters (the chapters already posted to the internet as of this chapter's posting here) and then will resume an update schedule that matches the archive.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think, and if you'd like to see more :)