The Vampire Queen of Hellfire

She hadn’t intended on being caught outside as the sun was setting. The young woman had simply gone on a supply run for her camp, and ended up straying further from home than usual – perhaps it was her fault for getting greedy. Still, it seemed like supplies were abundant in surrounding areas... if only I’d taken the motorcycle, she thought.

Not that any of it mattered now. Rachel Baker was now caught outside of her camp... at night. And she was exactly the type of prey the night hunters loved. A natural beauty in her early 20s, she’d heard the stories of women like her being dragged away after dusk, never to be seen again; Nobody knew where exactly they came from, or how they seemed to multiply so quickly. But seemingly almost overnight, what looked to be vampires had claimed the dark as their own, and suddenly people were disappearing at an alarming rate...

Rachel’s pulse quickened as she navigated the empty streets. She wasn’t too far from her camp; if she remained quiet and careful, she might be able to make it home before the vampires descended en masse on the city. The brunette kept hidden as she slowly made her way back, sticking to the back streets and alleys as much as she could; it ended up being an effective strategy, one that ended up making the young woman overconfident, as an attempt to quickly cross a well-lit street ended up being her downfall. She entered an alley on the other side, and the color drained from her face when she heard the unnatural hissing behind her. Something had been following her.

Rachel turned and screamed loudly at the sight – survivors had described the vampires as either astonishingly beautiful women, or grotesque male beasts. This creature happened to be the latter – feral and out for blood. Rachel grabbed her gun and shot off a few rounds, hitting the beast in the left leg and chest – enough to slow it down while she made her escape. Still, if she couldn’t shake it, the monster would be on her soon enough. The woman weaved her way through the streets, not knowing where exactly she would end up; in an unlucky turn of events, she ended up running into a dead end, cornered by the bloodthirsty creature.

Rachel’s luck seeming changed when a crossbow bolt pierced the vampire’s skull – although looking over and seeing that an extremely pretty woman wearing a mask and a purple and black outfit was holding the weapon didn’t necessarily bring her comfort. She might have been one of them – after all, she matched the survivor descriptions of the female vampires.

“Please... don’t hurt me,” Rachel begged as the woman looked over at her.

The woman tilted her head at the dead vampire. “You’re not one of them, so you don’t have anything to worry about.”

“I—I see. In that case, thank you,” Rachel said gratefully, still unsure if the woman was friend or foe. “My name’s Rachel. I was out for a supply run and I guess I ended up cutting things too close.”

“Call me Huntress,” the dark-haired woman answered. “Mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Rachel still had no idea what to make of this Huntress, but she did owe the woman her life. “I guess – I guess so...”

“I appreciate it. At any rate, It’s too dangerous to stay out here. Do you mind if we head to my hideout? We’ll be safe until dawn there.”

Rachel had no idea what she was getting herself into, but at that point her odds of survival were much higher accompanying this Huntress to a safehouse than trying to make her way home. “Um, OK...”