The Riders

Drake suddenly gets tossed out of a shadow in front of the Hunters-Guild. Panicked and confused Drake, runs into the Guild Hall. Frantically, looking for The Guild Master. In the Guild Hall, all his fellow Hunters who weren't on missions are sitting around long tables. Their conversations, echoing in the Guild Hall. Pushing his way through the crowd, desperately trying to make his way to the Guild Master's office. Other Guild members start to make comments.

"What's his deal?" one said.

"He probably got spooked by some Rankles," another responded.

"Wasn't Nick with him?"

With Nick nowhere in sight, the other Guild members started to question what was going on. They all crowded around the Guild Master's office after Drake barged in.

"Boss, Nick's in big trouble! Our mission went sideways, and he started fighting Mr. Vescar," Drake shouted.

The Guild Master quickly dropped what he was doing with a frightened expression on his face. The Guild Master is an older man with a long grey beard and a shaved head. Being the strongest member of the Hunters Guild it was uncommon to see him visibly shaken by anything.

"You were only supposed to investigate the disappearances. How did that escalate into a fight? I told you to keep your presence there to a minimum. You were never supposed to run into The Manager," the Guild Master said, lecturing Drake.

"He came to use, attacking me to get a reaction out of Nick," Drake responded.

Sweat started to roll down The Guild Master's face as he thought of his next course of action. Drake began to worry more and more. Realizing there wasn't any time to waste, he ran back into the Guild Hall. Staring down the other Hunters, he yells out.

"Nicks in trouble at the Merchant Guild base, everyone get your gear on and assemble the riders,"

Everyone was silent for a second before the Guild Hall erupted into chaos. Everyone scrambling for their gear. To the Hunters, Nick was a ray of hope. Someone who wasn't afraid of the higher ranks. He'd built his reputation on the battlefield fighting hoards of Rankles when everyone was too afraid to charge in, earning him both his title as the Fearless D-rank, as well as the respect of everyone in the Guild. Even the higher ranks.

After a few minutes, everyone was charging out of the Guild Hall, flooding the streets. Motorcycle engines roared behind the Guild as the Riders tour out onto the street, going full speed for the Merchant Guild's base. The Members on the bikes were known as The Riders. The Riders were an elite group among the Hunters. Their squads act as emergency backup and recon teams. Their bikes made it easier for them to travel the harsh terrains of their district.

They're the first to the scene, busting down the gates to the base. What they saw shocked every one of them. Coming in right as the battle had ended, they saw Nick kneeling on The Manager's dismembered body, with his sword logged in his chest. Nick glanced over at them for a handful moments before he started to collapse, falling sideways off The Manager. One quickly jumping off their bike to catch him. Nick had gone pale from losing over half of his blood.

"Quick, get the Doc over here. He's lost a lot of blood. He could go Rankles any minute!" the Rider yells, another quickly turning around to get the Doc. "Hey, listen to me they're getting the Doc, so hang in there man. The Guild needs you." the Rider says, trying to keep Nick awake.

By the time the Doc arrived, all the others had already made it to the scene preventing any Merchant Guild Members from getting close. They had used silver handcuffs to hold The Manger. Silver being on the weaknesses of the Vampires, they would even keep a Royal from escaping.

The Doc came running in with a backpack filled with reserve blood. These packs were called Blood Banks, they're used to store mass amounts of blood. Manly used for long-distance travel. To both operate Machinery and keep the user feed. After infusing the blood from the Blood Bank into Nick, he was back in stable condition, and his wounds started to heal. Making it safe to transport him back to the Guild. He wouldn't wake up for another several hours.

Slowly opening my eyes, I was in The Doctor's patient room. It was a small room meant for The Doctor's patients to rest in while they were recovering. It also locked from the outside, just in case the patient turned Rankles while recovering. The room was lit by a candle on the nightstand next to the bed. The one window next to the bed had its metal shutter closed, meaning that it was now daytime. The Doctor would be asleep, so there wasn't any point in calling for him to let me out. Sitting up I noticed something holding down the sheets on the bed.

Looking down, I saw Drake passed out on the edge of the bed. He had removed all of his gear. Now he was wearing a sleeveless shirt, his tattered pants, and his Guild Tag. All along his arms there were scabbing over holes. The skin around them was yellow in color. I'd seen these marks often, there from his old rusted-out arbiter. If we were still human, he would've died from tetanus his first day wearing it.

I'm just glad that I don't have ones as rusty as his, though he makes it seem like he's used to it. I can tell that it hurt just as bad every time that he has to take it off. He likes to act tough in front of all the guys in the Guild Hall. But when we're alone from time to time, he'll drop the act. One night he complained about the wounds from his arbiter from a whole hour before falling asleep.

I can't believe he's actually in here The Doctor refuses to let people other than himself be in the room while a patient is using it, due to the risk of a Rankles outbreak. Drake must have done some real smooth talking to get in here. Knowing him, he probably said something about how anyone in the Guild could take him out if he became Rankles, or just annoyed the Doctor till he let him in. For the time being, I guess I should go back to sleep.

Drake woke me up after The Doctor had unlocked the door to do a check-up before letting me out. When we came out, it was a hero's welcome. Everyone in the Guild was waiting to congratulate me when we opened the door to the Guild Hall. Everyone was asking questions about how I faced off against a B-rank and survived let alone won. After explaining to them how I predicted his movements and sensed where he'd attack from, Drake and I had to give our statements to the Guild Master.

When we came in The Guild Master was leaning back in his chair smoking his pipe. It didn't do anything for him as far as a buzz, since even a D-Ranks healing ability cleared most things out of their blood systems quickly. Others in the Guild had asked why he still smoked it, but he'd never given a clear answer. Everyone assumes it's to remember the days before the War. When we were all still human. It had been so long most have forgotten what life was like before.

After telling him all our findings on the case, we finally got to the part that he really wanted to know about, the fight with Vescar. There wasn't much to say since he'd started a fight with us for seemingly no reason.

"Well, we're all glad you got back to us safe and sound Nick. But you have to watch what you do for a while. Vescar is an important person in the slums. There will be people sent to finish the job he started," The Guild Master said.

"I'll make sure not to come into contact with any high levels for a while. Though with the jobs I work I don't think that's going to be very easy," I respond, scratching the back of my head.

"That's why you aren't going to be working those jobs, I'm relegating you two to Rankles Management,"

"What? Come on Boss, we worked our way out of managing the Rankles decades ago! We did our time." Drake Complained.

"It's not up for debate, I can't have you too out there possibly getting into more trouble with high-rankers. And if you want to keep making money, you'll do what I say." He said, lifting his pipe to his mouth, taking a long drag before waving us out.

After leaving The Guild Master's office, we went to The Barracks. The Barracks was a separate building behind the Guild Hall. It was a small wooden building filled wall to wall with bunks. It's where everyone in the Guild lived everyone got a bed. It wasn't the best living conditions as the building was in shambles, but it beat sleeping on the street. Plus all the Guilds were like this, they wouldn't afford better living conditions if they wanted to keep supplying the members with blood.

We went there to pack our things. To be on Rankles Management you had to go, far outside the slims to the walls that separate the districts from the wasteland. All the Guilds in the slums supplied them with Guards. It was generally a post that new members would be stationed. But being in The Hunters Guild, leaving Rankles Management didn't mean you'd be free from fighting the Rankles.

Capable members of the Guild would often be sent to eradicate hoards of Rankles that had become out of control. Though that's not what we'd be doing, we'd be watching and maintaining the walls as well as keeping track of the hoard's movements, sending the information back to the Hunters Guild. It was a boring job, but at least we'd be safe from any high-ranking vampires looking for us, there'd be no way to tell what part of the wall we'd be stationed at. Once we were finished packing up our things we'd leave the slums and head north for the walls to be stationed.