To the consternation of both Hunter and Exorcist, the mafia boss's news had not ended there. Having found the whole thing more than a little concerning, Antonio had gone on to look deeper into the matter and the results had been as surprising as they had been alarming. Apparently the same scenario had occurred in multiple locations throughout the city. Numerous people had been reported absent from their workplaces and when the mafia boss had investigated those cases, he found the absentees in the same state as his men. To say Lee and Vincent had found this disturbing would be an understatement. But even more concerning was the discovery Antonio had made while he had been digging around. The boss had made good use of his connections to obtain the locations of most of the victims' homes as well as their workplaces. Just as he had suspected, practically all of them had been based in the less than privileged sections of the city. Such locations were where the dregs of society dw
Diana made her way briskly across campus. Since she was now a bit more familiar with the school layout, it took her less time than before to get to the administrative building. Sparing little time to respond to the greetings that were sent her way, Diana moved with fairly hurried steps until she reached the office of the head of the school. Although this time she was not here to meet him, not directly at least. "Good morning Lisa," she greeted as she approached the receptionist's desk. The younger lady smiled faintly at first as her mind worked to recall the woman before her. When she did, her smile became more profound. "Hello, Diana right? What can I help you with?" "I was wondering if the principal had returned to office?" "Oh, unfortunately that has not happened. He has yet to recover completely." "Does this happen often?" Diana questioned. Lisa responded with a small shake of her head. "Actually no. Mr Rhodes rarely ever gets sick and never to this extent. Wh
Lucio Romano let out a breathy sigh and watched it turn into mist in the slight cold of the evening. He had been asked to pick up the boss's daughter from school. It was a task that was usually assigned to him, and he had long since grown accustomed to it. He even found it somewhat pleasant. The long periods of waiting for the last bell to ring normally provided him with some time to think. And there was a lot to think about this time. He had never really been much of a superstitious individual. At least that was until he had been shot and poisoned by an undead skeleton. His right hand came up to rub his left shoulder in reminiscence. It had already been days since the attack on Anna where he had been injured but he still felt occasional tingles of phantom pain in the arm. The wound had healed up nicely since then. The arrow had been needle-like in shape as it was never designed to kill immediately but rather to deliver its target to a slow cruel death by poisoning. After tha
"It seems I have once again underestimated the lengths these people can go to achieve their aims." "I'm guessing this is bad then." "Putting it lightly, yes." Jade groaned loudly. "Great. Another thing to worry about." The common room had been partially transformed to something that resembled a cross between a horror movie and the laboratory of a mad scientist. Empty vials and breakers were kept aside on standby while the ones containing one substance or another were kept atop the table. There were also several glass jars containing various leaves and herbs and what Jade suspected to be animal parts. For the past several hours, she, Olivia and Daniel Whitestone had been examining and running tests on the mysterious cans Vincent and Lee had suddenly dropped off earlier in the day. The erratic behavior of the two as they hurried to leave after bringing the unlabeled items had not stopped then from emphasizing on the importance of the cans. Lee had been vague with his
The sensation of feeling the world around her change rapidly proved to be even more nauseating than Whitney had expected. She fell to her knees, her hands gripping at the grass to help her obtain stability-wait, grass? Amber eyes flashed around in surprise as they confirmed that she had indeed been teleported into a forest. Slowly she got to her feet and created a small flame above her palm to survey her surroundings. Night had since come but the partially thick canopy allowed very little moonlight to reach down to the rest of the forest. Whitney frowned and increased the intensity of the fire in her hand for a better view. Just as she made to step forward, the hairs on the back of her neck tingled and she immediately threw herself sideways in a burst of flame from her feet. Years of reflex training allowed her to control her movement and she rolled herself into a poised crouch several meters away. A cloud of smoke and dust had engulfed the spot she had just escaped from. Ev
"So it's already started huh?" "Why are you suddenly so chill about this now? You were practically freaking out less than fifteen minutes ago." The Exorcist and Hunter duo were on the road once again, this time they were headed back to the academy. Traffic was considerably light, whether due to nightfall or because of the curse outbreak remained unknown. Unlike earlier, Vincent drove at a much more controlled manner, even though he was still going more than ten miles over the limit. "Then I had believed I could still change things," the older man replied slowly. His hands flexed around the wheel twice before spinning, turning the Mercedes around a bend. "There's no use crying over spilt milk." Lee glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "You don't think she's going to make it?" "That remains to be seen," he responded cryptically. "I am not a gambling man, Lee. But tonight, I'm betting on you and the rest of your pack to guarantee the safety of these kids." Th
Fire was considered the most destructive element for a reason. While wind and water both carried their risks in certain situations, and the amount of destruction that earth related disasters caused was nothing to scoff at, fire was still considered to be above them. Despite lacking in sheer force and maneuverability which the other elements possessed, there was no underestimating the terror that it could bring. It was not difficult to see why though. While all elements were perfectly capable of causing harm, fire seemed to be the one specifically designed to do so to humans in a much more painful manner. There were few things as terrifying as watching fiery red and orange tongues of flame reduce a living and breathing individual to little more than a pile of acrid smelling charred flesh and bones. The restriction was not limited to humans only. Across the world, one of the most common answers to getting rid of something inherently unpleasant was "kill it with fire". And because
The first thing that Anna felt when she woke up was pain. Her head throbbed with an acute headache that made her want to retreat back into the blissful realm of unconsciousness to escape the pain. She blinked twice to clear off the rest of the grogginess still dampening her senses. Slowly she pushed herself off the ground, her small hands bracing her weight against the stone floor-wait, stone? Her thoughts cleared in an instant as she suddenly became acutely aware of her surroundings. She was lying on the cold hard floor of a gigantic chamber. From the stalactites and stalagmites up and around her, she could tell she was either inside an earthen structure or underground. Given that the air here did not seem to be stagnant, she leaned towards the former. "You've awoken. Good."The sudden voice had her looking around until her eyes landed on the speaker who seemed like he had been watching her for sometime now. He appeared old, but not too old, rather like someone who was just pas