The Huntress

Chapter 1

Rustyrose slid through the bushes as he searched for his target, eyes darting towards every sound that reached his ears. Ever since Bluenote had taken over Grimore Heart as Master, he’d made it every mage’s mission to find the Huntress.

Her name was muttered in fear in every dark guild, her ways of wiping people off this earth burned into people’s memory. Rustyrose knew she’d be a great asset to the guild, but the risks associated with her ‘locating and capture’ - as Bluenote put it - were too great for Rustyrose to not think about what he was doing.

Cobwebs knitted the old, knotted trees together, and Rustyrose shivered as a spider tumbled down in front of him.

Then he heard it.

The faint sound of a piano playing, it’s notes echoing off the trees, surrounding the dark mage in it’s sweet melody. As if in a trance, Rustyrose followed the sound, walking away from the path to his right. His feet trailed don the ground as he shuffled forward, eyes glazed over. Thicker and thicker the brambles became, and thorns clawed at his feet, trying to stop him moving forward, pulling him back. But he tore through them and kept on walking.

Then, he saw it.

Standing in the middle of a dark, dreary graveyard, was a girl with long, black hair and blood-red lips. She wore an old-fashioned black and white dress, which was splattered with blood. She was surrounded by skeletons and demons, which were dancing around her in a circle, save for one, who was playing a stone piano. Rustyrose edged closer and closer, before stopping at the edge of the woods, his figure partially hidden by the thick leaves and branches of the trees around him.

Rustyrose looked closer, and the moon showed for a brief moment. Then, he could make out three familiar faces. Azuma, Bluenote, and, to his shock, Zancrow were all kneeling at her feet, hands tied tightly behind their backs.

The music got faster and faster, and quite words that were once carried away in the wind became louder and louder.

“Creaking Van Iddli Fla Lu Va

Pretty Sah Lu Feh Iddli Twu Ki Padi

Trelly Goilly Doilly Seli Pretty Chedi

Emi Swalin Gwoh

Seri Ferin Dorin Greh

Fairy Seiry Don

Sweedes Machin Twinky Doo

Fweeden Soreti.”, The skeletons echoed, before stopping suddenly. Two demons stepped forward, grabbed Azuma, and dragged him to the girl.

“Let me go!”, He protested, but the skeletons only smiled a bony smile as he was forced to kneel at her feet.

She lifted his chin so their eyes met. “I am the Huntress. I hunted you.”, She smiled. “Kiss of Death.”, Her lips turned pitch black, and she leaned down. Her lips brushed his, and a brownish glow flowed out of his mouth, before forming a brown orb. As more of the glow was sucked out of him, Azuma became paler and paler, and older. Once the glow stopped flowing out of his mouth, Azuma collapsed, and his body turned to dust. 

The brown orb, however, darted around the girl, before stopping and pressing itself against her left hand. When the glow faded, a set of thick, black stitches was revealed, similar to the ones decorating her arms, legs and face.

“W-Wait, no.”, Bluenote whispered as he was picked up and thrown at her feet. He looked up at her, and met her bright red eyes. “Please, let me go.”

“I look forward to you serving me.”, She whispered, before doing to Bluenote what she did to Azuma. But, instead of the glow being brown, it was a royal blue. It formed an orb, and darted towards her right elbow, where it formed another set of stitches.

Rustyrose was frozen: Who was she? Was this the legendary power of the Huntress? Suddenly, he felt a bony hand wrap around his throat, and he slowly turned his head to see a skull, black holes where it’s eyes should be.

“Mistress, he was watching.”, It rasped, and The Huntress turned around, a twinkle in her crimson eyes.

“Rustyrose, I’ve been expecting you.”, Her voice was like sugar, and it drew him in. His mind was blank as he walked up to her, eyes blank. He kneeled at her feet, and she smiled, trailing a hand on his cheek. “Good boy.”

“Who are you?”, He asked, and she took off his glasses, the tips of her fangs peeking out from crimson lips when she smiled.

“You are a brave soul, Rustyrose.”, She said, before leaning down. Once her lips were brushing his ear, she whispered, “Artemis, Artemis Cheney.”

And he willingly accepted the kiss of death.

This time, the grey that was sucked out of him didn’t become an orb, it became a long, thin silver chain, with an oval locket resting in the middle. It wrapped around her neck, and Artemis opened the locket, before smiling.

On the inside was a photo of a grey rose.