The Hunters Volume Two: War

Chapter Seven: The Difference Between You and I

  

The tracking spell led both girls across the school grounds, through the academy stadium where a crew of maintenance workers were getting the field and stands up to stuff in preparation for the first game of the season. Whenever they seemed to get a fix on the Hunter's location, he would start moving, leading them to continue the increasingly annoying search. Every call they made to his cell went straight to voicemail. 

  "This is so frustrating!" Veronica growled as she reached up to pick out a fallen leaf out of her hair. "Can't you just use your magic to pinpoint his exact location?"

  "You think I haven't tried that already?" Mia retorted and raised her palm with her middle and ring fingers curled inwards. An intricate pink magic circle appeared around her hand and her eyes narrowed in concentration at the slowly rotating symbols. A few seconds later, the glyph suddenly flashed with a dull gray light before fading away.

  Mia groaned at the spell's failure. "His Erasure ability is preventing my magic from locking onto him directly."

  "Wait a minute," Veronica rounded on the other girl with her fangs out in annoyance. "If your magic can't reach him, how the hell have you been 'tracking' him all this while?! And I swear, if you've been leading me around blindly—"

  "Calm down bitey. My spell has been tracking the energy signatures he leaves behind. We've been following him step by step the whole way."

  "Then where the hell is—"

  "Hello girls. What brings you to this side of the woods today?"

  Both of them snapped their heads to the left where Lee Shen was sitting on a branch fairly high up a nearby tree. There was an open book on his lap and a lit cigarette was held loosely between his lips. Dressed in black jeans and a white shirt with a dark long jacket, he looked like the stereotypical college bad boy.

  Mia felt her heart skip a beat when the white haired Asian lean sideways and tumbled off the branch in a free fall. Just before she could draw upon her magic, he righted himself midair to land perfectly on his two feet. His jacket billowed in the wind for a moment before settling down and he flashed them a cocky smile.

  Mia caught sight of the cover of the book in his hand and hummed thoughtfully. "'The Old Man And The Sea' huh? That's interesting. I'd never have pegged you for a lover of tragedy."

  Lee shrugged his lithe shoulders. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

  "That doesn't matter," Veronica cut in without care. "If you don't mind, we need to get back to our search. Mia?"

  The witch closed her eyes and focused on the spell that had been leading them all around for the past hour. Her brows soon came together in a frown and she released her breath. "That's it. The trail ends here."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Are you guys looking for Michael?" Lee asked.

  "No."

  "Yes."

  Both girls looked at each other with contrasting expressions. Mia seemed confused while Veronica was a single step away from sealing the other girl's mouth shut permanently.

  "It's none of your business," Veronica all but hissed at the Hunter before turning to Mia. "Explain. Now."

  "I don't really get it either. It's as if his magical signature just... vanished. Like it never existed."

  "That's because for all intents and purposes, it doesn't," Lee interjected, causing Veronica to glare at him. He smiled back at her. "If you're looking for Michael, you just missed him. Witch girl, you should know what I mean."

  At first Mia seemed a bit lost, but realization soon overtook her confusion, followed quickly by resignation. "He's in the Ultra Rem, isn't he?"

  Lee fired off an imaginary gun at her and smirked. "Got it in one."

  Veronica felt her jaws tighten in annoyance and forced herself not to go on a tirade. She knew of the Ultra Rem, both through her spies and having heard of it directly through the Delgado girl herself. Despite the unspoken truth she found the idea of having what essentially amounted to a personal realm to oneself very advantageous, Veronica had no intention of entering. Not because she did not want to, but because she had basically wrecked that possibility when she had essentially told Michael to fuck off so many weeks ago. Even now she still felt hesitant to meet him. But this did not just concern her. Her sense of duty and  her love for her kind had won over her pride. 

  It irked her immensely how the  Hunter's smile never left his lips, as if he could smell her discomfort at having to ask for help. "Do you know how we can contact him?"

  "Not possible," Lee answered nonchalantly. "But if you told me why you wanted to see him, maybe I could help you out?"

  Veronica's eye roll was enough to convey what she thought of that option. "Forget it. I'm leaving," she said and turned around to do just that.

  Mia reached out to the other girl in an attempt to change her mind. "Veronica, wait a—"

  "Now now, why the rush to leave? You just got here and I'd hate for you to leave empty handed~"

  Both vampire and witch froze on the spot at the sight of Lee leaning against a tree several meters away from Veronica who was in front. The act itself seemed inconspicuous except for the fact that he had somehow moved fast enough to arrive there from behind Mia without either of them noticing he had even moved at all. Lee pushed off the wall to approach them and Veronica's sense of danger soared at his deceptively pleasant smirk.

  "Don't you think I can help?" He asked in his normal carefree tone.

  "Why should I?" Veronica retorted a bit harshly. "He's an alpha, isn't he? The strongest in your pack. Why would I pick you over him?"

 Lee nodded understandingly. "True yes, Michael is our alpha and leader. However," his wide grin returned. "His biggest source of power is his Variant ability. Guess who else is a Variant?"

  Veronica quirked an eyebrow questioningly. "Is that so? What is your ability then? I doubt it'll be anywhere near powerful enough to cut through a mountain top."

  The way the Hunter's smile turned feral sent shivers down Mia's spine. He leaned forward slightly, allowing the girls to make out the sharp canines among the two rows of pearly white teeth. "Why don't you come and see for yourself, hmm?"

                                    ~~~~~~~~~

  'Just how did I get dragged into this?' Mia asked herself the same question so many others had asked themselves in the past. And like all those before her, it would remain unanswered.

  She watched as both the werewolf and the vampire circled around each other. The latter's face was set in a firm frown while the former bore a borderline gleeful smile. Realizing that there was no hope of stopping this, Mia began weaving her magic around the entire clearing for a massive Clouding spell. There was no doubt that this battle was going to be anything but subtle.

  "Are you ready ladies," Lee smirked and rocked back on the balls of his feet. "I already know you're both gonna lose, but at least try and make this fun for me hmm? I haven't had to use my Variant Ability in a long time."

  "This smug bastard," Veronica hissed as she leaned back a little towards Mia. "How powerful is your magic, mage?"

  "I'm still kinda lost on that but I do know a few high tier spells. Don't think they'll be of much use against a werewolf's magic resistance—"

  "Don't worry about that," Veronica cut in with a smirk of her own. "Just start focused on keeping him distracted."

  Having never been much of planner herself, Mia was content to go along with the vampire's idea. She was a princess after all, so it was right that she would know a thing or two about leading. Although Mia was honestly surprised that the other girl was so willing to work with her. They had only ever done this once before, back in the alley and against a much weaker opponent that the one they were facing now. Their performance then had been quite good in her eyes an apparently the other girl must have thought the same. But she would have to ask her later and focus on the fight now that the princess had just dashed towards Lee.

  Veronica moved quickly, her mind thought quicker. This was a Hunter, one whom she had practically zero information on. Not that she knew absolutely nothing about him though. For example she knew he was a werewolf, which meant he definitely possessed superhuman speed and strength just like she did due to her vampiric heritage. But she had no idea just how strong he was, nor how fast he was, how good his reflexes are and other little details that could determine the way a battle went. And to top it off,  his Variant Magic, what was most likely his trump card, remained unknown to her. She had received lessons on the different types of magic that existed and had been taught just how volatile the concept of a Variant was. 

  With so many unknowns, Veronica decided to go with what she had been taught back at her father's castle.

  'When facing an opponent whom you do not know what he or she is capable of...'

  Her figure blurred as she appeared behind Lee, fingernails already extended into razor sharp claws.

  '... always make sure that your first strike...'

  She struck out with unerring accuracy directly at his exposed neck above the collar of his jacket.

  '... is the last.'

  Her hand shot forward with the speed of a fired bullet.

 And right past the surface of the skin on his neck.

  "Huh?"

  That question reverberated throughout the clearing despite being barely more than a whisper. Lee tilted his head back and gave her the most shit eating grin she had ever seen before lashing out with an elbow jab that nearly caught Veronica off guard. She moved her body a little to the right to avoid the strike and quickly retaliated with one of her own. That too was blocked the Hunter who launched a counter the moment after. It baffled Veronica how easily the Hunter seemed to be keeping up with her fast paced movements. She was not arrogant enough to think she was the fastest being in her world, or even the fastest vampire in existence, but she had always held great pride in her speed both in and out of battle. Yet here it was being not only matched but even slightly overcome by another! A quick glance up confirmed her suspicions. The Asian's eyes still maintained their dark brown color, meaning that he had not even began to use werewolf powers yet. 

  Veronica's lips thinned in a tight lipped smile. 'Let's see how long your arrogance lasts.'

  She struck out with a quick double jab which the Hunter evaded near effortlessly, before switching over to a flurry of kicks that had Lee dancing around her. Realizing that she would never hit him that way, Veronica attempted to grab his arm to lock him down. But the moment her hand touched his, Lee reversed the grapple and forced her arm out at elbow. Out of the corner of her eye, Veronica saw him raise his hand to strike. Her eyes turned red in an instant and the muscles in her arm tensed as she activated her Blood Magic. The sudden increase in strength seemed to have caught Lee off guard, allowing her to free herself and retaliate with a sharp kick to the skull. 

  The Hunter dodged that as well and Veronica smirked as he moved out of her attack and right into the path of a spear of flames headed directly for his head. By the time he had realized the attack was there, the spear was already so close that she could see the reflection of the flames in his eyes. 

  Which was why Veronica could not believe her eyes when the Hunter suddenly dropped below the spear by bending his back to be almost parallel to the ground. The spear zoomed over him to incinerate a tree at the edge of the clearing. In the same fluid motion, Lee rolled into a handstand and brought his foot crashing down on Veronica. She dodged the first one and was forced to put up her arms to block the follow up kick that sent her all the way back to where Mia stood. 

  The witch was frozen in shock at what had just happened, her spellcasting hand still outstretched.

  "I-I don't understand," she sputtered confusedly. "I mean, I waited until you had him in a corner! There was no way I could have missed that!"

  "You didn't," Veronica corrected and grimaced at how much her arms hurt from blocking just one kick. "That's just how much of a monster he is."

  The brunette glanced at her 'partner' worriedly. "Then how are we supposed to beat him?"

  "We can't."

  "What?!"

  "And we're not supposed to, remember?" Veronica reminded the female mage of the terms of the battle. "We just have to get him to use his stupid Variant magic."

  The realization that they wouldn't have to be forced to defeat Lee brought relief to Mia's face. Unlike Veronica who had only heard or read about the Hunters and their abilities and capabilities, Mia had actually seen one up close. Last month during the skinwalker debacle, she had been paired with Dean for Whitney's rescue. After they had managed to successfully divert the Àtahsaia's attention away from Whitney, Mia had taken her friend and had bolted away as fast as she could on Dean's earlier order. 

  At first she had no idea why he had asked her to let him tackle the demon alone. But the explosion of soul crushing energy that had followed soon after had left an unforgettable impact on her. Now as she stared down the smirking white haired Hunter in front of her, Mia could not help but wonder just how powerful this one was.