Out in the woods. (Maia x... i mean & Ben)

The sun had setted on a sweet summer day, the birds had ceased to sing their songs. Two camoflaged people, a man and a woman, entered the forest, both wielding rifles.
Their intent- to seek out the beast that had been killing humans recently, possibly a werewolf... their chances of finding it? Next to zero. But it was their job, and they´d be damned if they didn´t do it.

Or at least that was the plan.

"So, uh, what do we do if there`s actually a werewolf here...? I`ve shot a vampire before, in the back, at twelve thousand yards but this is a bit different." Ben asked his company, sweaty hands gripping the weapon in his hand- a double barreled shotgun with a third, rifle caliber barrel underneath. A traditional hunting gun- while not the best thing to use against werewolves, his Sterling wasn`t even going to singe its fur, let alone break the skin. A twelve gauge slug, on the other hand....
Ben`s eyes kept pacing back to Maia, who seemed so much more calmer. The short muscular woman had her rifle lying on her shoulder, walking as if she was just taking a stroll through the park.
"And how can you be so damn calm about it? You never even shot a vampire!" What sounded like an outburst was more like a whine, coming from him.

“Quiet down a little pup, I’m calm because there’s no point in moaning or getting worked up. Anyway, you’re British aren’t you? Have a stiff upper lip” Maia said in an almost monotone voice, she felt the familiar feel of the shotgun against her back, the steel reassured her and made sure that her resolve was stills strong. [i]I have never shot a Vampire? Men, Vampires and werewolves, it made no difference. In the end everything died the same way, with a bullet through its head or with an open throat from her knives. She was good at killing things, the boy on the other hand: he still needed to be honed before he was a true weapon.

Puncturing the silence with her voice the Vampire stopped a second, she sniffed then carried on. “If I’m going to make a weapon out of you then I have my work cut out for me,” she said with a slightly annoyed tone to her. She wasn’t going to let him die if she could help it, he was chipper and alleviated the mood. Maia sighed inwardly, this wasn’t going well. But if they were going to stop then they had to make sure that they had scoured the area, Integra would kill them otherwise.

Ben sighed, hearing the response he thought he was gonna get- harsh rejection.
The dry wood cracking under his boots making enough noise as it was, he proceeded to talk a little more quiet.
"Actually, i´m american... and i never planned to be a killing machine, thank you very much, i just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time..."

Seeing a movement off in the distance, he set his sights on it, but then just saw a deer run off into the wilderness. Seems like they stirred it up, maybe they were too loud for their own good.

"Anyway, you´re right, lets keep it down. Wouldn´t wanna alert anybody, right?"
As he proceeded to sneak through the woods, his foot got caught on a branch and he did a pratfall on his face, nearly discharging his weapon into the nearby tree. However, he remembered at the last second to take the hand off of the handle and as such, the weapon landed next to him.
"...sorry about that. Didn`t see that one." He said, standing back up and brushing off before proceeding like nothing ever happened.

“Damn it, first rule of gun safety. Never put your finger onto the trigger unless you’re going to fire, even then be careful you aren’t going to fall flat on your face.” Maia said with some resignation, offering a hand to help him up she felt a pang of pity for him before quashing it. “Wrong place, wrong time? You’re a Vampire for goodness sakes, the potential for you now is limitless. Embrace it and you will reach new heights,” She lectured. This wasn’t a fun start, but the boy could learn and when Maia was done with him he would be a lean mean killing machine.

“Ok, watch your step, move slower.” The Jewish lady said, “put the heel of your foot down first then roll the rest of your foot down slowly. If you’re going to break a twig you’ll know, it’ll help avoid incidents like falling over or making all that noise again.”
She wasn’t sure what she thought of the young man, only that he was optimistic. She was curious of his story but that could wait, she still had to get the measure of him before deciding whether he was worth her time. But he showed promise, except he also showed a lot of clumsiness. She sniffed the air again, turning around she thought she heard something. But it was just a squirrel, Damn chirpy bastards

"Oh, don´t worry about it..."
He moved the switch to the side, breaking the gun open to reveal no shells actually being in the gun.
"I didn´t load it yet because i thought it`d be unsafe to walk around with it.. but now that we`re this deep in the woods..."
He digged around in his pocket and slid two shells into the chambers, one slug and a buckshot round, one to make the kill shot and the other to stop the target from moving.
Following her advice, he walked slower, moving up further towards a cave that he had spotted from a distance... a pair of eyes glowed in it, and they were coming closer.

Ben´s hands started shaking, and he raised the rifle until-
.. it turned out to be a bear, which promptly moved up to him and sniffed, growling a bit at the raised weapon.
"Oh man, i almost thought we had him..." Ben sighed, lowering his weapon to... walk up to the bear and pet him.
The beast reacted confused, but eventually rolled over and let himself get petted all over- before eventually walking off to find some food.
Ben waved him off with a smile and continued to hunt for the wolfman, hopping up onto the top of the cave`s entrance to look around and possibly spot another.

Maia chuckled at him as he waved at the bear; it proved her suspicions that he did have some courage. Or maybe he just wasn’t cautious, either way it was something to go on. As he hopped up the Jew grinned, “Using your surroundings; there just might be hope for you boy” she said. [i]Maybe being stern with him won’t work, whereas guiding him with some gentleness might get him to come along more quickly.[ /i]Looking around she licked her lips, there were boar in the area. At least she thought there was, there tracks were distinct yet the fact she couldn’t hunt one annoyed her.

“See anything?” she leaned against the wall of the cave as she waited for a response; this would get tedious in a while. To hunt when chances were slim was entirely different to hunting for something that might not be there, but she still had to obey orders. Flexing she readied her shotgun, it made her feel at the very least like something good might happen. So leaving the cave’s mouth the Jew realised that they might as well wait a short while, when the moon came up they’d have a better chance of finding it.
“Come here and sit down for a while Ben, we might as well wait for the moon to illuminate our target”

"Nope. Nothing. No caves, no holes in the ground... at least from where i stand."
Ben hopped back down, slinging the gun over his shoulder and shrugging once.
While he could think of better things to do than to sit around the campfire and tell ghost stories to someone who could probably scare him half to death with real ones, he did admit that this was getting pointless- just walking around the forest all night wasn´t going to work. That werewolf wasn`t going to come out just because they wanted him to... if he was hungry, or if he felt like it, he´d show up.
So, he sat down on a handy treetrunk, sighing a little before picking out his phone to check the time.
"Its just past eight. Gonna take a while until midnight at this rate..."

Maia sat down and took out a hexi-burner from her webbing, she set it up and lit it with a windproof match. Making sure it lit she then sat back and took in the surroundings, the forest was devoid of life and rather pretty after years upon years of desert. In the distance she could hear running water, with the odd animal passing by. Maia took out a pack of cigarettes, Silk Cut, lit one on the small burner and took a long drag on it. Placing a mess tin on the burner she proceeded to take out a silver coloured sachet, it was filled with blood.

“So Ben, want a smoke?” Maia said dryly, she wasn’t expecting him to accept but she had to offer. So with a light yawn she poured a little water in the mess tin, she then waited for it to boil. Once it had she’d place the blood in and warm it up, not as good as fresh but it was a little nicer when warm. She looked up at the sky, not wanting to strike up a big conversation though she’d talk if the lad wanted to.

"Nah, i´m good. Thanks though." Ben rejected politely, waving his hand into her direction. Though it did seem odd that she would heat up a blood packet, as most seemed to prefer it cold, it probably reminded her of what it tasted like fresh from the source.. a feeling he, fortunely, never had to experience so far.
"Uh, i´m not sure if its a good idea to picknick here... if anything the scent of blood might attract him to us." Ben pointed out, though that was probably her idea to begin with, acting as a bait for the wolf.
Something about this didn´t seem very safe or secure, but he couldn´t pinpoint it.
"...anyway." He leaned back a bit, eyeing his companion, not quite sure if he should attempt to talk to her.. afterall she did seem to prefer loneliness over having company. That might be a conversation topic. "...you`re hanging around on your own an awful lot, i noticed that. You don´t like the company of others, huh?"

“hmm, I like people but at the same time I’m not that talkative you may have noticed.” Maia said with another inhale of the cigarette, “sit down, closer to the burner. The heat’s nice.” Maia said with some care, she enjoyed company but the act of sitting down with someone meant more than words.He grows on you I suppose, she thought pulling her knees up to her chest. It wasn’t going very well so far, but it was a chance to get to know her knew companion.
“The problem is as well that I haven’t found the right companions, I’ve known soldiers who were idiots; and some poets that were too soft and had no strength of character. When I was with soldiers who talked about nothing other than women they’d fucked I wanted poets to talk to, but with the poets that spoke with their lyrical ideas and ideas of peace I wanted to go back to talking to the soldiers.”

"I can sympathize with the first one. Can´t say i met any poets so far." Ben groaned a little, reminded of every single time he´s been talking to the Geese so far. He was their cherry boy, the virgin, the guy who never touched a woman and the guy who`d lock himself into his room rather than drink at the bar. He couldn´t say he cared too much, afterall, they were the ones that got yelled at when they arrived seven hours late to guard duty. Then again, they made three times as much money as he did... life was unfair.
"Actually, Alucard might be a bit of both. But i´ve yet to meet anyone who likes him. His poetic side mainly revolves about how much he hates himself and the world and his soldier attitude is more that of a butcher than a soldier." So in short, he was a mass murderer who pitied himself, but he couldn´t say that. No matter where Alucard was, when he´d hear that, Ben´s head would come off.

The noises the animals of the forest made irritated him. Each one could be their target, and it was getting more and more annoying that he couldn´t distinguish them all that much.

“Alucard is strong, he has the balance but at the same time he doesn’t realise how great his gift is. It’s a shame in a way, but I wouldn’t seek a friendship with him because we are too different to get along.” She sighed once again, being lonely wasn’t fun but the Geese were asses and this boy was a world away from her. “The Geese show disdain for you right, well they won’t once I am through with you.” Maia said, taking the blood out she tore the top and began to drink. It wasn’t brilliant, but it satisfied her thirst.
“I once tried convincing one of the Geese to donate the odd bit of fresh blood to me, but he wussed out when I assured him he had no chance of receiving ‘favours’ in return” she laughed lightly. “You’re a whelp now, but don’t worry about it so much. We all have to start from somewhere, even Alucard was once weak though you wouldn’t tell from him now”

Ben listened to her story, and her view on things was interesting for the most part- though he had to laugh when she mentioned even Alucard started out small.
"He used to command tens of thousands of men at my age, and when he became a vampire he had been going to war for decades. I don´t think i can compare that to me, who barely qualified for army service."
One had to imagine what the hell the Geese she was talking about was thinking, asking for "favors" from a woman like her- strong enough to crush rocks with her fingers and looking the part.
"Still, you don´t have to hang around alone all the time. Seras and Mato are pretty nice, and.. i guess i´m here too? Talking to you beats talking to any of the geese except Captain Bernadotte anytime."

He twitched a bit as he heard a howl, but from the sound of it that was a normal wolf. Still, the shotgun in his lap was something he clutched tightly, ready to blow the head off of anything that would attack them... bear, boar or werewolf.

“Alucard was still only a boy once, and he was smashed by the Turks at one point. No one is so high and mighty that they can’t be beaten, plus I could always try training you ben.” Maia said with a plain expression, “yes, I suppose you are nice. If you were a few years older…” she cut off then with a grin before shaking her head. She finished her drink then placed the wrapper in a pouch on her webbing; she licked her lips free of any remaining blood before addressing the other vampire again.

“I don’t have to hang around alone all the time, but I’ve never really been a huge people person. I am a killer through and through when it comes down to it, now tell the truth boy: do you really want to hang around with me?” She prodded gently, his answer would be interesting to hear and the conversation alleviated the pain of waiting. Taking another blood pack out she handed it to him without a word, he looked like he needed it; he definitely would need the strength if the werewolf showed up.

Taking the bloodpack from her, he drank it plain, feeling a surge of power rush through him and take away the boredom he previously had. It was like injecting sugar straight into the vein, he felt like he should do something, run a marathon, play catch, climb a tree, anything.
Instead, he answered Maia´s question without even having to think about it.
"Sure. We´re all killers, some more, some less, but the devil´s not as black as he´s painted. You`ve got a personality underneath the bloodlust, and thats what counts."
He smiled back at her, a sincere smile, despite being an insecure little rookie that was still shivering when thinking about their assignment.

Then, a mighty howl went through the night, and his blood froze. Standing up slowly, he looked around in a slight state of panic.
"There he is... actually, where is he? I don`t see anything, i just hear him.."

Maia gave an inward smile at his answer as she went back into her cold hard normal state; the howl had returned her to her primal pure state. The state in which she got a lot of good killing done in, the chance of death added more to it. The ecstasy filled her more than anything else, it was the only thing to rival blood to her. She stood up,
“calm down, don’t get worked up about it. Keep the fear in check and do something better with it, use it to fuel you.”
Ben was insecure and worried too much, it was almost funny despite the situation. Yet despite the lack of confidence it was sort of endearing; and if she ever felt inclined to have a partner she would’ve called it cute. But he was going to stand and fight she was sure, like many people he had a lot of fear in him. But he would stand, he had some self-control

"I`ll try. Should we split up and cover more ground looking for him alone or stick together and raise our chances of surviving this..?"

It was an odd question, that. Survival was something they both wanted, though Maia seemed like she didn`t mind a gamble about it. He couldn´t exactly say the same for himself... he wanted to survive no matter the cost, if they failed the wolf would still retreat for now, they could hunt him again tomorrow. But if they died, there wouldn´t be a tomorrow.

A lot of activity in the woods now. The animals retreated from something, and it wasn´t them, they were coming their way... which meant the wolf was heading straight for them, likely attracted by the scent of blood. Ben gazed into the woods, but he couldn`t see anything, some faint shadows from time to time, but nothing certain.
Despite Maia´s advice from earlier, he kept the finger on both triggers- one operating the two shotgun barrels, the other the rifle barrel- and was ready to point it into the woods in a microsecond. The first shot would be the buckshot shell, so he could fire at a vague shadow if he wanted to.

A faint of red was glowing ahead.
"Nevermind, i guess he´s already here."

Maia felt on edge now, this was the thrill of the hunt in its purest form. The red eyes glared out at her and she felt a stab of excitement fill her, she gave a quick once over to her shotgun before waiting for it to charge them. “Come on you little bitch, come out and try to eat us if you aren’t just some little bastard.” Maia shouted at it, if it charged them it would die. The Saiga 12 fit her hand well; the slugs would blow the fucker’s head off just like another weak prey creature. “Tell you what Ben; whoever kills it gets to keep its head; it’ll look nice on the wall.”

Ben wanted to retort that like vampires, Werewolves quickly disintegrated after being shot in the heart, but by the time he opened his mouth a large, furry beast emerged from between the woods- a second before he didn`t see a thing.
His shotgun spewed out silver his direction, but it only hit his leg, crippling him a bit- the claws of the beast instead ripped his right shoulder, exposing the bone and making him drop the gun in an instant- he heard various other shots, possibly from Maia, but didn´t care too much- as he fell to the ground, his left hand grabbed the Sterling on his belt and pointed it at the Werewolf, firing an entire magazine into the wolf before he disappeared again, back into the woods- they´d have to chase him down if they wanted to end this.

"Come on... he can`t run faster than we do with that leg." He breathed out, getting back up and grabbing the shotgun he had tossed to the ground as the beast struck his shoulder. Blood was running down his arm, soiling the weapon, but adrenaline made him forget about the pain.

Maia fired two shots with her Saiga as she drove the beast back, Ben had been mauled but otherwise they were unharmed. She was impressed, he carried on with the messed up shoulder. She reached out and got some of his blood on her finger, licking it off as she began to run she called out to him. “Come on, you have such delicious blood, don’t die it’d be such a waste must say now let’s kill the bastard.” She winked as she said this, Maia saw the werewolf’s outline as he ran through the trees; she grew closer and closer to him. She shot him in the shoulder as she came up behind him; he fell down but got back up again. Kicking her in the stomach Maia went straight into a tree, getting up again she went to engage again.

Running after Maia, Ben started to feel his shoulder throbbing- the way his blood was racing through his body wasn´t good, but he didn´t have time to mend the wound. It`d have to do... besides, the wolf might turn tail and attack his wounded prey again.
He fired the rifle round at his backside, but instead of travelling through his body like he hoped it would it got stuck inside, falling out of him as it burned through his flesh.
The howling he gave off was unbearable to his ears, but the one chance he had was when Maia had been kicked away.
She didn`t look all that good after that either, but his back was turned to him. A chance.
Taking a leap, he jumped onto the wolf man and clamped his legs down, gritting his teeth.
The beast was trying to buck him off, but he held on with all the strength he could muster, bringing the shotgun down behind his head.
"We´re going on a stroll, doggie. Straight to hell." He whispered, pulling the trigger as he raised his head to buck once more.

The slug penetrated his skull and made it explode in gore, the silver projectile landing just a few centimeters away from Maia as Ben was flung a couple of feet backwards with the last bucking the wolf ever did. His shotgun was thrown left of him, his body landed on the ground, which was painfully infecting his wound, despite that he had to grin. Maybe Maia`s mere presence made him more of a reckless douchebag than he would have ever imagined.

“Well, that was unexpected Rookie. Not too bad if I do say so myself; too bad the head’s ruined eh?” she walked towards him with a small wince to her step, there wasn’t much to do now except congratulations and the long walk back. With a small bit of pride in him to her step she went up to him with a grin, she was right in saying that there was hope for him. She gazed up at the moon and laughed, the thing was dead and the mission done. The kid had done well for himself; she reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Who knows Ben; if you keep on surprising me then I might start getting tempted to forget about the small age gap…” she said with a chuckle

"Wouldn`t have wanted that thing anywa- GAAHH!"
He´d just gotten back up, and then she had to pat the bloody shoulder- the one that was barely held together by muscles and bone. It didn`t hurt so much before, but now it was really flaring up.
"Th..thanks a lot for that.... i really... needed to get off... of my adrenaline rush..." He said inbetween gasps and pants, taking the shotgun to prop himself up as a walking stick. They´d better get back now, but first he leaned against a tree and tied a bandage around his shoulder, keeping it from bleeding out. Proper treatment would have to wait for later, right now he just wanted a shower.... though that might hurt like hell.

Discreetly licking the blood on her hand Maia let the taste fill her mouth, it was really good to say the least. Still she had to try and make it up to him later; he deserved something for killing the werewolf. She pulled out her hip flask, inside was enough Vodka to clean the wound; with a little left over for them to have a drink for the pain. Maia gestured for him to sit down under a tree, sitting down opposite him she leaned forwards. Taking the makeshift bandage off she began to use it to dab alcohol onto the wound, after she had cleaned it she wrapped it up tight.
“That should hold over for now, now all that’s left is to make sure my ribs are ok”

She sat back opposite him again and proceeded to move her shirt aside; prodding her stomach she made sure nothing was broke. To her dismay though some felt cracked though that would heal quickly, everything seemed in order. She just had to wait for Ben to heal, Maia grinned. His blood was nice, shame it would dry on his gun soon though.