Primary song: f(x)- Dracula

Genre: supernatural/ action

Characters: Victoria/ Dracula/ f(x)/ Surprise cameo

“Vic! I think I found him!” Luna shouted enthusiastically, catching the attention of the other members of her team.

Victoria immediately rushed over to the technician and her computers. "Where is he?" She demanded as she peered at the screens.

Luna tapped some keys before zooming into a satellite map. She pointed at a specific area on the computer screen in front of her. "Here, in the Northern forest."

Amber, who came over because she was intrigued, furrowed her brows. "Why is he in the forest? I thought he was headquartered in the city."

"He is, or at least his business is," Luna responded as she tapped away on the keyboard. "It's in the red light district in fact."

Sulli scrunched her nose up in distaste. "Ew, the red light district," she shuddered.

"Well, now that we found him, who will go after him?" Krystal, the youngest member, asked.

Amber sighed. "As much as I'd love to, I can't. I have to go on patrol with some others. Since it's Halloween and all. You know how restless the monsters get," she said as she sent a meaningful look to the others.

The four girls understood exactly what Amber meant. Halloween night was the only night of the year when monsters could prowl the streets without being recognized by ordinary humans who weren't monster hunters. In fact, if the five girls didn't work for SM (Slaying Monsters) Incorporation, they themselves wouldn't be able to identify monsters. They were in a quintet called f(x) which didn't really have a meaning until Krystal, the witty English speaker, attached one which was the Fabulous E(x)terminators.

“I’ll go,” Sulli volunteered, but before Victoria gave her approval, Luna spoke up.

“No, Sulli, you’re too young,” the technician said and turned to the leader. “Um, Victoria, a private word, please.”

Perplexed, Victoria followed Luna into the missions room. There, Luna opened a folder titled “TOP SECRET CASE: LEVEL FIVE”. She took out a profile on the monster they were assigned to track and kill.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I just recently realized and decoded the monster’s true identity. We’re not dealing with just any monster here. I don’t understand why management decided to assign us this particular thing here,” Luna muttered under her breath, disgruntled and dissatisfied with the company’s decisions.

“What are we dealing with then?” Victoria asked, intrigued.

What Luna said next rocked Victoria’s world. There was no way she was letting Sulli take the mission.

Victoria and Luna grimly walked out of the missions room, and the three others apprehensively waited for someone to speak. They seemed to sense the tenseness in Victoria.

“Sulli, you’ll be taking my position on one of the patrols. I’ll be taking this mission.”

Sulli didn’t dare argue when she saw the look on the leader’s face.

"Amber, come with me to the gadgetry," Victoria commanded the weapons specialist of the group. "You need to help me prepare for the mission."

Because time was of the essence, the two hurriedly loaded onto the elevator that went from their own personal floor in the SM building down to the company's massive gadgetry in the basement.  

The ride was short without much talking. Amber could see Victoria brooding over her thoughts. “Hey, Vic, you alright?” Amber asked the leader as the elevator door opened, and the pair walked out into the cavernous room full of weapons, tools, and vehicles that were appropriate for any situation. It was a tech geek’s dream come true.

“Hmm? Yeah,” she muttered as she grabbed a pre-filled backpack from a nearby table. She glanced around for a moment. “Amber, can you go get a weapon for me? I think I’ll need two small and light guns for this mission rather than a large rifle,” she decided.

Amber nodded and went straight to the weapons section of the room while Victoria went the other direction to the gadgets section. After a search for the exact tools she wanted, she was holding a stuffed backpack, loaded with the necessities as well as a few extras such as additional anti-vampire ammunition, anti-vampire repellant, anti-vampire...well, the list goes on and on.

When she finished packing, Victoria slung the satchel over her shoulder and turned around to see Amber strolling over with two small guns in her hands. “Here,” Amber held out the guns to Victoria who took them and inspected them.

“These will do,” she nodded in approval before loading them with anti-vampire pellets.

Amber briefly watched her leader swiftly load the guns before asking, “Vic, you seemed uneasy in taking this mission. Why?”

Victoria stopped mid action of loading the last pellet into the first gun. “Did I?” She quietly asked back. Amber nodded solemnly.

Sighing, the leader straightened before shooting a target on the other side of the huge room. It hit the bulls-eye. Although Amber’s seen Victoria in action before, her leader’s skill never failed to amaze her. There was a reason why she was the leader.

The two stayed still for a few moments before Victoria said, “I just don’t want to face him, that’s all.”

Amber gawked at her answer. “But he’s only a vampire! You’ve faced so many of them before. What makes him so different?”

Seeing Victoria unresponsive made the cogs and wheels in Amber’s mind spin. “Wait a minute. He’s not just any vampire, is he?” Amber realized.

When the leader hesitated for half a second, Amber’s interest piqued. “He’s not is he?” She guessed. “What is he?”

Victoria shot her second-in-command a glare. “Sometimes you’re too smart for your own good,” she sighed. “I’m only telling you because you’re my right hand lieutenant, okay?”

Amber nodded eagerly.

“The vampire I’ll be facing tonight is the vampire king.”

The weapons specialist’s eyes widened, and she gasped in horror. “You don’t mean…” Amber began in a hushed whisper.

Victoria nodded and said in a low but firm tone, “Yes, I’m going to be facing Dracula.”

The mission didn’t start out all too badly. It started out pretty well in Victoria’s opinion. Despite Amber’s plead for Victoria to not go after Dracula, the “maniac killer who wants all monster hunters dead”, she had insisted, and eventually, the other relented, although she did call Victoria an “equally crazy lunatic to go searching for suicide by going after the demonic creature”. It was quite amusing to listen to, actually.

Thanks to Luna’s excellent tech skills, the tracking device was programmed to lead Victoria straight to where Dracula was hiding. The specialized jeep Victoria was driving was linked back to the headquarters so that Luna could see and hear everything Victoria could on her computers.

Eventually, Victoria stopped a few miles south of the little dot that indicated Dracula. “Luna,” Victoria seemed to speak to nobody in particular, “why is the dot not moving? I don’t want to believe he’s just staying in one spot. It makes him seem too vulnerable, and he isn’t the type to do that.”

A few moments passed before she got her response. The radio crackled alive with Luna’s static voice. “Hmm, I’m not sure. I think he got injured in a fight before he fled into the forest. In fact, I think it’s because of the fight he fled into the forest for safety,” she admitted.

“A fight?” Victoria repeated in surprise. She shuddered, “I’d hate to meet whatever injured Dracula. Oh well, at least he’s slightly disadvantaged."

She drove closer to the dot until she was dangerously close. Only a mile away. In the dark forest that blocked the moon's light, she couldn't see anything except what was directly in front of the jeep.

"Luna, I'm getting out now. I can't risk going too close and have him hear the jeep," Victoria informed her before already moving to get out.

Just as she was getting out of the vehicle, she heard Luna faintly whisper, "Stay safe Qian unnie."

Victoria froze. Luna had used her real name rather than her code name. The leader swallowed. "I'll take care, Sunyoung," she said, calling the girl by her real name as well.

She closed the door and was enveloped by eerie silence. Even her footsteps made no sounds. Perfect. She took out her compass and faced the direction where Dracula was supposed to be.

Taking a breath, she ran into the darkness that had its arms open wide, welcoming her into the unknown.

The first few minutes were agonizing. Victoria could barely see anything except the dim silhouettes of various objects around her. Twice, she tripped over tree roots, and multiple times did tree branches and bushes snag and claw at her clothing, resulting in many scratches, cuts, and bruises.

When she ran into a clearing with barely enough moonlight to see, she took a moment to recollect herself. As she took a sip of water, she wondered if she ought to risk turning on a light. She'd be able to actually see things, but it'd give away her position to monsters.

She hadn't forgotten that the Northern forest was infested with monsters other than just Dracula. She was just incredibly blessed to not have met any yet.

Just as Victoria was about to take out her compass, she heard a scream. Her heart pounding, she tried to pinpoint where the scream was from. It sounded close. She realized that it was also a woman's scream. Who-?

Suddenly, nearby bushes rustled, and Victoria whipped around with her guns in her hands, directed to the bushes, ready to kill the monster that popped out.

But it wasn't a monster that popped out. It was a woman, covered in dirt and branches, looking as if she came out of a vicious fight and had been running for miles. She probably had been. Victoria ran over to the staggering woman just as she was about fall and caught her.

Victoria took note of the woman's facial features. Her amazing memory told her that the woman in her arms was one of the hundred missing women who were taken captive by no other than Dracula. If this woman was here...that meant Dracula was as well.

"Run away," the woman spluttered suddenly, jolting Victoria from her exciting discovery. "We can't stay here long. You need to escape when you can."

"What are you talking about?" Victoria asked, honestly confused.