The Hunters Volume Two: War

Chapter Eleven: Unwelcome Visitors

  "This is not good."

  "Yeah no kidding."

  "Oh shut up Lee. This is serious."

  All five Hunters had gathered in Michael's room. As both their leader and an alpha, it was only right that his living space was the biggest among the team. With Dean lying on the large bed and Olivia sitting beside him, there was still more than enough room for Lee to lean against the door and Jade who was sitting at the study desk. The owner of the room himself was standing, his eyes fixed in a pensive stare as he watched Olivia glide her hands which glowed green with her magic over Dean's body. No one had asked her to do that since there hadn't been any visible wound on the other Hunter's body earlier but her love and worry for her teammate had driven her to his side from the moment she had stepped into the room.

  Nevertheless, no one made a move to stop her. Because, more than they were a team, the Hunters were a family who relied and cared for each other. And family always took care of family.

  "Why exactly did it fail?" Michael asked Jade.

  The girl looked down at her hands with a slight frown. "I'm not exactly sure. The runes I used were supposed to identify the basic element that composed the seal and send a pulse of the opposing element to destroy the seal. But the way the magic circle malfunctioned was so strange. It was as if there were more than one element at the foundation of the seal."

  Michael raised a eyebrow at her words. "Could it have been two?"

  She shook her head slowly and her lips thinned grimly. "No. I think it was all four."

  A heavy silence descended on the room. Each of the occupants took a moment to ponder what Jade's assumption could mean. While it was not common, it was not impossible to find a mage who possessed more than one elemental affinity. It was usually a hereditary thing meaning that those mages must have had parents who had been exceptionally powerful magic users.

  "Michael," Olivia spoke up suddenly, causing the alpha to turn to her. "Does 'he' know anything about this?"

  Knowing what she meant, Michael shook his head negatively. He had already asked the consciousness of his predecessor that dwelled within his soul and had not gotten a clear answer. According to 'him', only once had he ever encountered a mage who had up to three elemental affinities. That was news to Michael although it wasn't of much use. Throughout all their centuries of dealing with supernatural threats, they've only come across mages with dual elemental affinities. For a single person to have all four was nothing short of impo—

  "It's not really impossible though," Lee said suddenly as if he had read Michael's thoughts. 

  "What do you mean?"

  "It might seem strange, the idea of one person having all four elements at their beck and call," Lee said, an unusually serious look on his face. "But it's not inconceivable. Hell, there's a perfect example right here in this damn academy."

  "What're you talking about?" Jade asked in annoyance.

  "The Delgado girl."

  Michael shot his blonde teammate a questioning look. "You mean Mia? What does she have to do with any of this?"

  "She's a Variant, right?" The question sounded rather like a statement, but Lee's tone suggested that he didn't believe that one bit. "That was your conclusion regarding her abilities."

  Michael folded his arms and stared at him. "That's right."

  "No, that's wrong," Lee disagreed. "'Cause I'm pretty darn sure Variants can't cast fire and wind spells as well as barriers and even a freaking levitation spell."

  His words drew the attention of the rest of the room to him. Olivia was still focused on healing a fully healthy and now conscious Dean but it was clear that she must have been listening to what Lee had said. A frown made its way to Michael's face as he considered what his teammate had just said and took a moment to contemplate what it meant.

  Jade leaned forward and stared piercingly at Lee. "Are you sure about this?"

  He nodded in reply. "Positive. It surprised me too back then. We were told she's only been a witch for about two years right? Well either they're lying or she's some sort of freakishly talented prodigy 'cause her spells definitely pack a punch."

  "I've only seen Mia show proficiency in fire and wind magic," Michael said. "But if you're correct then she might just be the first person to possess all four elemental affinities in who knows how long if not ever."

  "I very much doubt that the Arcane Circle don't already know of this beforehand," Lee said with a dark smirk that was directed at Michael who scowled in return. "And yet they were willing to ship her off right into your hands. Doesn't that just scream suspicious as  hell?"

  The frown on Michael's face deepened momentarily as he considered what Lee had suggested. While it was indeed possible, if not inevitable even, that the Arcane Circle had ulterior motives in their assigning Mia under his care, Michael knew more than to make assumptions based on such facts.

  'Are you so willing to blind yourself to the truth, Michael?' The exasperated voice of his predecessor sounded annoyed and tired in his head. 'Do not forget that I can see your innermost thoughts and wishes. I will warn you now: do not trust those witches. In some ways they are even worse than the vampires and Church when it comes to deceit.'

  Mentally Michael grit his teeth but did not reply. There was no use in trying to argue with someone who could read your mind effortlessly. Michael was not stupid enough not to realize what his predecessor meant. It had become obvious even to him, that he had begun to develop some sort of emotional attachment to Mia at some point along their regular meetings and training sessions. Logically speaking, what Lee had said was probably correct. It was just his mind subconsciously trying to preserve Mia's innocence by grasping at any other possible explanation. And from the looks of it, even the others had begun to notice the closeness between him and the female mage. Luckily Lee was more than willing to call him out on it.

  "You're right, Lee," Michael said, his face hardening into a familiar mask of indifference that the rest of them knew all too well. Their expressions were telling on what they thought about it. Dean's apathetic yard long stare had found its way back to his face. Jade looked exasperated with the whole thing but he could still see the hint of excitement dancing behind those sparkling dark eyes. Lee on the other hand made no attempt to hide his excitement. That was clear both from the dark grin across his face and the slight reddening of his eyes, not to mention the pure bloodlust that the white haired man seemed to exude.

  It was the look on Olivia's face that actually tugged at Michael's heartstrings a little. Her warm brown eyes were downcast and filled with a sadness that she tried to hide behind a shaky smile. It only hurt Michael because he knew exactly why she had that reaction. More than anyone save probably his predecessor, Olivia knew just how badly the effects of Michael's Variant magic had affected his psyche. Each time he used it, there was always an empty feeling it left within him, as if he had lost a tiny modicum of his very person. She held regular 'healing sessions' with him to alleviate the effects but even then she knew it could only do so much. Which was why she had been so supportive of Mia getting close to him once she had seen how the young witch had managed to draw out a liveliness out of him that she had thought could not be revived. And now that he was about to revert back to his previous state, it was understandable that she would feel unhappy about it. 

  But despite all their varying reactions, each of them had one thing in common that could not be denied. Their eyes all beheld him with absolute loyalty, born not out of fear but rather respect, gratitude and trust.

  "Come on." The order was one that left no room for argument if there ever even was one. "Let's pay them a little visit." 

                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The concept of the mystic arts existed in pretty much all cultures and races but none was as widespread as that of the West. The infamous story of the Salem Witch Trials were a perfect example of just how ingrained the supernatural was in the culture of the contemporary Western world. Nowadays, if one wished to go on a quick info trip on witchcraft and other related facts, one of the first places that comes to mind would be the town of Salem in Massachusetts, home of one of the most controversial supernatural debates in history. Of course with such a history, it was only fitting that the ruling seat of the entire Magic Society be located in a place where it could be hidden in plain sight. 

  In a forest at the edge of the city Salem, Oregon, more than five thousand kilometers away from Salem, Massachusetts, a large cloud of purple smoke swirled into existence from thin air. The air around the strange phenomena rippled under the massive energy emitted by the rip in space as four individuals stepped through the portal. Soon after, the swirling circle of purple smoke vanished to leave the forest with its previous peace and quiet as well its new guests. 

  "Let's go."

  The three of them fell in step behind the one who had spoken. They moved swiftly and quietly without any visible effort. It was as if they had done this an uncountable number of times in the past. Every now and then one of them, a girl with straight luscious dark hair dressed in a fashionable all black outfit would direct the team to take a turn or cut through the thicket of trees.

  No words were spoken until the team reached the foot of a moderately sized hill that was neighbored by three more slightly smaller ones. They went down the untrodden path that led right in between the hills and through the valley. The valley was quite steep and with the natural rock formation on the sides of the hill, it would have been unnecessarily risky to build any method of transportation in such a place, hence why there was not even a worn path much less a fully operational road. 

  The group stopped at the entrance into the valley all at once. The brown haired young man that had spoken earlier sent a wordless request to the dark haired girl through a quick glance. She let out a little sigh and stepped forward, her hands going to pull up the sleeves of her leather jacket. 

  "How're we doing this Michael?" She asked. "Subtle or not?"

  "Subtle," he answered. "Let them know we're here. There's no need to cause a panic. For now at least."

  Jade gave him a sly smirk. "Gotcha."

  She raised a finger in the air and stared at it for two seconds until it glowed with a faint lavender light. Then she swiped gently across the air and a dizzying array of multicolored magic circles sprang into existence in a hexagonal pattern. Each one had a different pattern, shape and color to it and there were hundreds of runes and symbols inside them. 

  Jade could barely stop the derisive scoff that escaped her full lips. "How cute."

   Her hand moved like lightning as she selected multiple magic circles in quick order. Once selected, the circles became outlined with a shade of purple and would move in accordance with the motions of her hand. Like a conductor orchestrating a choir, Jade manipulated the space that made up the miniature runes to shift them from their positions to suit her intention. Her eyes stared directly at the configuration as she went at it with confidence and cockiness of a master hacker deciphering a firewall. Once she had successfully rearranged the entire array into something completely unrecognizable from its original formation, her eyes flashed a brilliant purple and she tapped the array with the same finger that had been used throughout the whole thing. 

  The formation shattered into a million shards like glass that had just been introduced to a cannonball. Following that, it was as if a veil had been pulled back from the world as the space in front of them changed to reveal a pair of massive gates decorated with numerous symbols, glyphs and writings in multiple strange and ancient languages. 

  Jade flicked her finger and the gates flew open with a resounding bang. 

  "Geez Jade," Olivia winced with a helpless smile. "Didn't Michael say to be subtle?"

  "This is me being subtle 'Liv," the other girl replied offhandedly. "Besides I purposefully tripped all the alarms that were built into that runic array earlier. They already know someone's coming."

  "And the traps? And curses? And all other annoying stuff witches like to do?"

  "Dismantled all of those ages ago," Jade said with no small amount of pride in her voice. "Seriously the security here is so lax, it's as if they want us to invade them."

  "Be that as it may," Michael began. "We should get moving before—"

  "Intruders! Don't move!"

  The attention of the group was drawn to the sound of marching feet as they were accosted by two dozen men and women wearing matching pale red uniforms with a pentagram symbol etched onto the fabric above their chests. The soldiers were led by an obstinate looking man who had a bulky body structure and a well kept beard. His uniform was a bit different from that of the others, being fancier than theirs as an indication of his higher rank in whatever their association was.

  Michael raised an eyebrow at being labeled an 'intruder'. Not that he was arrogant but at the risk risk of sounding so anyway, he had not been prepared for someone not to recognize him of all people in a place like this. Well, that did not mean he should let it bother him much. After all there was much more important things to do with his time than to waste it explaining to these guys why they should probably be running away as fast as they could right now.

  He took a step forward and his hand snapped up to bat away a bolt of lightning that had been aimed at his head. 

  "My name is Captain Hugo Clifford of the Arcane Circle Defence Corps. I don't know whether to praise you for your courage or deride you for your stupidity in invading the headquarters of the Arcane Circle so directly," the large man stated in a gruff voice as he stepped forward. "But I would advise the four of you against making any sudden movements and follow us quietly to avoid any harm coming to your person."

  An unrestrained burst of laughter fell out of Jade's mouth as her shoulders shook with pure amusement much to the shock and indignation of the guard captain. Once she had regained a little of her composure, she turned to Michael and patted him twice on the shoulder approvingly. "Oh man, these guys are hilarious. Okay now I'm seeing why you left Lee behind. If he was here, half of these guys would have been dead by now already."

  "You have a lot of guts little girl," the man growled lowly and waved his hand to order his men to ready themselves for a confrontation. "And decent amount of skill too, seeing as you lot were able to somehow bypass multiple Platinum Tier Sealing Wards. But once again, I will ask you not to move or I will not be able to hold myself back."

  'These guys are fighters,' Hugo thought. That much was clear just from the way they kept themselves and the states of their physiques. But there was something very strange about them. Being a captain of a highly accomplished organization like the ACDC, Hugo was quite an expert mage as well as a very skilled combatant in both close and long range. His senses and instincts were well trained and he had grown to rely on their judgment more often than not. And right now, both were drawing a complete blank. It was as if the four individuals in front of him did not even exist as he couldn't detect an ounce of power from all four of them. 

  As far as Hugo could remember, something like this had only ever happened once. It was on the day of his promotion, when he had met someone whom he, till date, had difficulty believing was human. Because how could a fellow human be so much more powerful than him that he had failed to sense his presence despite standing right in front of him?

  And now here he was faced with not one, not two, but four? That could not be it! There had to be another explanation. And he would find it as soon as these strangers cooperated and he took them to the higher ups. 

  Michael stared directly at the captain. "You truly believe you can hurt us?"

  Hugo's hand reached for the longsword sheathed at his side and drew it slowly. "I do not wish to but if you refuse to obey—"

  "That's enough," Michael cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Jade?"

  "Yes?" 

  "Kill them please."