Chapter Text
Perched on the rooftop, Bruce searches for any signs of activity.
Ace chemicals. A building that's now been abandoned after a major accident that happened over a decade ago. He has had a few calls about suspected criminal activity in the past that doesn't surprise him. However, he was expecting it to be a place where only petty drug dealings or illegal trading may happen. Instead this time, Gordon sounded sure that the prolific vampire that was causing most of Gotham’s deaths was hiding here.
Months of scouting and researching, and they might have finally found the hiding spot of Gotham’s biggest killer.
Bruce grappled to the roof of the abandoned factory, careful to maneuver away from the skylight windows. Taking the stealthier route, Bruce heads to the rooftop stairway door. It's locked of course, so he uses his lockpicks to open it. Once inside and descended from the stairs, he uses the shadows and brick pillars to keep himself hidden as he looks around. Bruce is on the second story catwalk, sees a vast array of empty vats and broken down equipment, but no sign of life.
Then the sickly, sweet smell of the undead, like acetone with a hint of decay, assaults Bruce's nose. Bruce’s vampiric instincts heightens his senses. Sounds become louder, smells more nauseating, and he can feel every vibration though the floor and walls. He takes it all in. Strategically moving towards where the smell gets stronger until he finds who he is looking for.
There. Bottom floor at the back end of the factory where the waste exits leads to the nearby river. He senses some movement in the shadows. But it's gone in nearly an instant. Bruces uses his unnatural speed to move just as fast as he gets closer. Jumping down from the catwalk, behind a vat, and quickly glides around toward what he is sure was a flash of purple before it disappears behind a wall. Bruce turns the corner of that wall expecting to catch this killer with his fist before he suddenly crashes to the floor. Vision blinded for just a second with screeching laughter and claws slashing at his chest and face.
Bruce uses all his strength to punch the side of the offender's face to launch them off him. It disorients the other just long enough for Bruce to grab the other’s neck and flip them to the floor while choking off those unbearable laughs. Bruce was getting his holy axe ready when he was quickly stabbed in the side with a dagger and thrown off. Already Bruce is recovering as the other is standing before him.
“A vampire who’s a vampire hunter. Now that’s funny!”
Bruce, axe ready, lunges at the chuckling creature, but the other is faster. Another stab at his back before Bruce turns to whack him with the axe. It ends up as a game of wack-a-mole as the creature dodges, chortling and treating this encounter like a game.
“He, he, he. You’re fun! Are you sure you want to kill me?”
Bruce swings the axe and just barely scrapes the other vampire’s chest with a steaming cut that was sure to leave a permanent scar. A small hiss tappers a chuckle.
“Blessed? You ARE serious about killing me.” Another dodge of the axe. “Well that’s no fun.”
“But all those people you kill is fun to you!?”
“Are you talking about those nobody humans?” The green haired creature swiftly grabs Bruce’s wrist and maneuvers behind him. Grabbing the tail end of the axe with their other hand. Pinning Bruce into a head lock with his own axe. “They were just my food. Surely you understand?”
Bruce shimmies a hand to his utility belt to take out a vapor gun. He releases the vaporized garlic and immediately the other lets go as they both recoil. It stings his eyes and lungs, but he’ll recover. While temporarily blinded, Bruce keeps swinging the axe in hopes that he will at least critically damage the other while he regains his senses.
Then he hears gun shots. It's coming from the other vampire. One bullet hits through his right wrist which causes him to lose hold of the axe and it drops to the floor. Then another bullet hits near his heart, and for a moment Bruce fears that it was made of silver when the other vampire pins him to the wall behind him.
“This has been fun and all, but I think it’s time to call it quits for now.”
No weapon, and no access to his hands. An odd idea, or perhaps an instinct comes to Bruce’s mind. Desperate to regain control, he gives in to the impulse. Bruce unhinges his jaw and lunges at the other's neck, sinking his fangs in. The other yelps in surprise which caused them to loosen their grip on Bruce’s wrists. This gave Bruce just enough leeway to slip his wrists out to grab at the other’s wrists. Flipping positions to pin them against the wall without letting up on his bite.
At this point, Bruce vaguely registers that he was sucking the putrid blood of this other vampire. This reminds Bruce of another idea. The blood of a vampire is precious, weak in needed nutrients, and important to the survival of a vampire. It's why vampires have to rely on the blood of humans, or in Bruce’s case, animals as well to sustain an undead life. So if he can just keep sucking the lifeforce out of this other vampire until dry, Bruce thought, it's another way to kill him. It makes sense, anyway. Despite Bruce’s admittingly limited knowledge of his own kind. And his lack of proper exposure to other vampires outside of killing them.
And so he does just that. He doesn’t let up on his bite while he keeps his grip tight on the other vampire. He sinks his fangs deeper to suck more.
“You really…he he, are a funny one.” With the widest smile that Bruce didn’t think could get any wider.
Even more strangely, or perhaps Bruce already had the other close to death, the other vampire became more pliant. He made no effort to stop Bruce. And had let himself lose consciousness with what Bruce swears sounded like a pleasurable sigh before going completely limp.
After holding on with his jaw for another minute longer, making sure the other is dead, Bruce lets up on his bite and releases the other. The now unconscious vampire drops to the floor with a hard thud. A deep solid bite mark is left on their neck. But Bruce is now sure the other is dead since the bite mark is not healing away.
Gotham is saved. It has to be.
And so Bruce calls Gordon to let him know the job is done as he leaves Ace Chemicals.