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2024-10-29 19:42:56Anna giggled again with glee as she watched the snake move its head around in a circular motion, in sync with her own hand's movements. The snake was an Australian Diamond back rattlesnake, as indicated by the sign nearby the glass cage. Unlike most children her age, Anna had no deeply rooted fear of serpents. She had always found the creatures strangely fascinating, from the way they moved and behaved right down to their varied feeding methods. Which was why she had only spent a few minutes with the other reptiles before focusing all her attention on this one.
At first the rattlesnake had paid her little attention, obviously used to being stared at by visitors to the reserve. Then she managed to make eye contact with it, or at least she thought she did. Those slitted glassy amber eyes were a different kind of weird even for her. That was when things got strange. When she had attempted to move to another snake, the diamond patterned creature had
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'Hey witch girl,' the monster called at her, turning his blood splattered face to give her the cruelest smile she had ever seen. 'Do you know any spells for reading this guy's mind?' His right hand dragged up the brutalized lump of breathing flesh that was the Rougarou, without a single care for the disgusting squelch it made nor the agonized wheezes that came from the creature. Even from where she stood, she could see where its slashed abdomen struggled to hold back its innards from spilling out all over the ground. It took a conscious effort on her part to avoid throwing up the contents of her stomach at the sight. Her ears picked up the inhumane laughter of the monster as he mocked her. Did he think she was like him? That she was as evil as that? The scene changed. She didn't know how but she was aware of what had happened. The iron tight grip around her
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September 14th, 11:58 pm, The Vatican City, St Peter's Basilica. The owner of the hoarse voice, Fr Josef Costa was a sixty something year old man with a balding head and bushy eyebrows and a slight moustache that was filled with gray hairs much like the situation atop his scalp. He wore a dark blue cassock and a royal purple stole that depicted his status as a Cardinal. His eyes were small but filled with a clarity and intelligence that reflected the knowledge his age had given him. The old man gave Vincent an unreadable look before shifting his dark eyes to the still seething Fr Enzo. "And you, have you lost all sense of empathy? Creatures of the night or not, those deceased were no less individuals than you and I. Do not spit on the face of their families and friends by disrespecting their passing." For a second it seemed as if Enzo was about to let the older man, though not by much, have a piece of his mind. But in a flash the expression on the man's face suddenly swit
The Hunters Volume Two: War Chapter Thirty Two: Bait
"Before the creation of the Exorcist Project, the Hunters had served as the Council's primary attack force. Back then, while the paladins had fought the threats we could see, the Hunters battled the unseen evil that threatened to consume the world of old." The priest paused momentarily to decide how best to arrange his words. "I cannot tell you yet the exact details of that story." Vincent raised an eyebrow at that but the old man merely gave him a sideways glance. "Don't give me that look. You know very well how these things work." Vincent did indeed understand. Which was why he remained silent and let the man continue at his own pace. "Due to certain classified circumstances, a few of the less righteous members of the clergy were able to obtain some information on a subject that possessed... extremely powerful regenerative capabilities." 'Regenerative abilities?' Vincent repeated in hi
The Hunters Volume Two: War Chapter Thirty Three: Human Vs Vampire
September 15th, 12:15 AM Starlight Bay, Somewhere within Starlight Forest... The pale white glow of the half moon shone down on the beautiful city of Starlight Bay. Even at this late hour, the city was still dotted with brilliant and often multicolored lights that illuminated the night sky. The air was cold enough that most people out in the streets had to wear jackets to block out the chill as they went about their businesses. But while some people slept, and some people indulged themselves in all manner of activities, in the woodlands that formed a natural border around the city, a fierce battle raged on... Both figures blurred back and forth. Their blades clashed loudly, hardened metal against crystallized blood, each time releasing showers of bright sparks into the air. The fight had been going on for over five minutes and Alaric had to admit that he had t
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Chapter Ninety Nine: It Begins...
Rosaline stared at the ground in front of her where a raised mound of earth was all that remained of one of her longest friends. The pain and grief in her heart was far greater than the ones still wracking her body even as she stood in the pouring rain. Unlike other mounds around her, this one did not have a cross atop it, nor did it have a headstone. Rosaline had felt it would definitely not be fitting to put up a cross on Aria's grave considering how the girl had died. And as for a headstone, she had considered it at first, but that idea had eventually been discarded. After all, even if she were to make one, what would she write on it? Aria was the last of her family to die and as far as Rosaline knew, the girl did not have any other relations outside the Order of The New World. Even within the organisation, the only people she had really gotten along with had been Rosaline herself and Ezra. The latter had been in a strange love-hate relationship with Aria, something that Rosali
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Chapter Ninety Eight: Vacuum of Despair
Chapter Ninety Eight: A Coming Storm Mia could not stop staring at the girl lying oh so innocently on that white hospital bed like she had not just tried to suck away all of Mia's powers like some kind of energy leech. The memory of that terrifying experience was still very fresh and raw in her mind, leaving her very uneasy about getting any closer than six feet to the girl's bed. She just kept pacing back and forth, imagining just what could have done this to the girl before her. But Rin was in no mood for such indecision. "Hey Mia," the ex assassin snapped the mage out of her thoughts sharply. "What the hell just happened right now?" "I... I don't really know..." She answered, her voice less shaky that it had been a few seconds ago but still just as uncertain. "I mean I thought I had recognized her from somewhere but when we first got here, I wasn't able to get a reading so I just thought I had been imagining things... But this..." "Ok you better start making sense or I'm
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"As you know by now, all of the Hunters possess a specific Variant ability in addition to the powers we already have by virtue of our werewolf nature," Olivia explained. "Michael has his Erasure, Dean has Absolute Death Inducement, Jade has Space and Time Manipulation and Lee had his own particular brand of Blood Magic. As for me, well the closest thing we've been able to find as a suitable name for my ability was the Eternal Soul." "The Eternal Soul?" Mia repeated in surprise. "And if that name was to be believed literally," Rin leveled the girl with a flat look. "Then it means you are essentially immortal?" "That is correct." "But Shin said that he had both gravely injured you and hit you with an unavoidable attack that was meant to inflict death upon any target it hit regardless of—" "Ah ah, that's where you're wrong," Olivia cut in with a knowing grin. "Immortality does not always equal to invulnerability. You can cut me, stab me, shoot me and I'll still bleed just li
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Chapter Ninety Five: The Unseen Shadow
Sometimes Loretta wondered if this power she had been born with was a blessing or a curse. The Celestial Eyes had always been something she had taken extreme pride in. With those Eyes, there was practically nothing that was hidden to her. She could see all the truths of the world, the inner workings of the human mind, even the most concealed secrets of most people she came across every day. But for the first time in her life, Loretta felt completely blind and lost on what to do as she stood on the paved walkway along the avenue that led out of the residential part of the campus. There was a slight chill in the air, something that was not uncommon this early in August since that was when fall started bleeding into winter. But though Loretta had worn a comfy looking long sleeved blue parka jacket and was even going as far as to keep cycling her magic through her body at all times, it did not alleviate the cold that was boring into her soul. At least unlike the last time she had
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Chapter Ninety Four: Duty
A single flap of his wings had him closing the distance between them immediately, his swords coming up for a double diagonal slash from both sides. Ezra reacted accordingly by blocking both attacks with a brand new pair of blood axes that formed instantaneously from the swirling magic around him. Vincent raised an eyebrow at the appearance of a second arm in the vampire's body, formed from solidified energy to replace the the Exorcist had severed earlier tonight. But even then, the strength of a Celestial being was not something that could be matched by simple Blood Magic. The axes shattered after a few seconds of bearing the weight of the Exorcist's power and Vincent attacked again. Having fully expected this, Ezra did not make any attempt to dodge since doing so would put him in a far more unfavorable position than he already was. Rather he stepped forward and raised his arm, the one that was made of energy and intercepted the stab. The sword pierced right through the arm but t
- The Hunters Volume Two: War
Chapter Ninety Three: A Dead Man's Sacrifice
Vincent dove down sharply in the direction of Rosaline, having deemed her as the biggest threat among all three at the moment. Technically neither of them were a threat in actuality but the Exorcist still felt it it would be better to be safe that sorry later. The Arcane mage dodged out of the way of the dive-bombing angel/human but was immediately forced on the defence by the Exorcist's constant barrage of attacks. Whenever she tried to make space between them to cast one of her more powerful incantations, the man would always choose to close the distance between them with one flap of his wings. The first couple of strikes she had defended against with her stave had already gotten her seriously concerned since she had felt her own weapon crack ominously. A follow up diagonal slash directed her left arm away, leaving her open for another attack which came in the form of a powerful kick that Rosaline was barely able to block using the stave. The force of the blow snapped the st
- The Hunters Volume Two: War
Chapter Ninety Two: A Futile Struggle
The first time Ariana Carmine had ever seen an Exorcist had been when she was twelve. At that age, she had just barely matured enough to understand that the world was not as black and white as the teachers at her school had made it out to be. There had been duties, obligations and responsibilities that had been the cause of many arguments in her home back then. Every day she came home from school, she would almost never failed to find one new letter joining the stack on the table by the door. Whenever that was the case, her mom and dad would enter a shouting match that was often so bad that she would always flee into the safety of their attic to escape the noises. Eventually her parents found a way to somehow settle some of their outstanding bills. Right from a young age Ariana had always known that her mom and dad were... special in a way most other kids' parents were not. She had liked it back then, liked how she would come back from visiting a friend's house sometimes and get
- The Hunters Volume Two: War
Chapter Ninety One: Absolute Power
"Is it over?" Ezra asked as he rotated his left arm in a slow circle. "Did that last attack get him?" "I doubt it," Rosaline said, the irises of her eyes gaining an electric blue glow as she pushed arcane energy into them to boost her eyesight. "I saw him just before that last strike hit. His expression was way too relaxed for someone facing the possibility of instant death. He probably had a way to survive that thing." Ezra looked back at the large cloud of smoke and dust that drifted upwards slowly. The vampire chuckled in disbelief. "Well damn. If he really does survive that, then he is one tough son of a bitch." Beside the dark skinned mage, Aria tightened her hold on her daggers impulsively. "... We have to... We need to kill him..." "Someone sounds like they have a personal grudge," Ezra said with a smirk full of mischief. "Care to share with the rest of the class?" Aria turned to glare furiously at him. "It's none of your business—" "Actually it is," Rosaline cut
