The Hunters Volume Two: War

Strike Two

The Hunters had shown up on invitation by Antonio himself, along with Mia, Elena and Whitney. The latter had needed to be dragged to the event by Elena whose intention had been to make things with Mia who had yet to speak with them since the day they had revealed the truth to her in the forest clearing. Along with them was Lisa whose presence had been more of a demand by Dean than a social call. 

  After they had arrived and exchanged pleasantries with the young hostess and her father, Dean had wasted no time in dragging the rest of his pack along with Lisa, to the outer balcony that overlooked the rest of the city. None of the kids had been allowed past the primary corridors that separated the penthouse's main building from the outer balcony to avoid any accidents.  There, Dean proceeded to recount the encounter he had experienced earlier in the day, up until the moment he had mysteriously blacked out.

  "Wait a minute," Lee cut in, his voice unusually serious for once. "You said she just looked at you and you passed out?"

  "As embarrassing at it might sound, that is correct," Dean replied solemnly.

  "That's not embarrassing, it's terrifying," Olivia commented lowly. A firm frown was set on her usually cheerful face. Her upset status was not without base. She was very familiar with the nature and capacity of Dean's power, far more than the others among their pack. For someone to have been able to neutralize him so quickly, it was definitely something to give serious thought.

  "Lisa," Michael turned to the startled witch who shrunk back reflexively under his stern gaze. "Did you catch sight of the attacker?"

  The spectacled girl shook her head negatively. "No. By the time I reached the hallway, she was already gone. Aside me, Dean was the only living thing in that building. I used a spell to confirm that."

  "Well, so much for things normal around here," Lee sighed. "First skinwalkers, now we have to catch a super fast, super strong person whose eyes can lock away our powers?"

  Jade glanced worriedly at Dean. "About that, how're you holding up?"

  Dean raised his hand and pointed it at a nearby potted plant. His brows furrowed in concentration as he reached inside the deepest recesses of his mind and soul for something. Anything. 

  Ten seconds later, the plant remained as healthy as it could be. 

  "Still nothing," the dark haired Hunter said with nary a hint of emotion in his voice.

  Olivia's voice however was filled with trepidation. "So is it actually... gone?"

  That was a question that was on the mind of every other Hunter at that moment. Not only would the loss of the Absolute Death Inducement be a great detraction in their combined strength, but it would also bring about a whole slew of problems regarding Olivia's own abilities.

  "No," he answered, much to their joint relief. "I can still feel my power deep down, but it's as if there's a wall holding it back. Like a seal."

  "If it's a seal, then I'll have to take a good look at it later," Jade proposed.

  "Um, maybe I could uh, I mean I might be able to help," Lisa offered in that small soft tone of hers. "I know a thing or two about seals..."

  "Oh yeah that's right," Lee wrapped an arm around the poor girl who looked far more frightened by the friendly gesture. "I heard you did pretty well back at that party after it went sideways last month."

  "Whatever be the case, I want you all to be way more vigilant now," Michael stated with a deadly serious expression. "There's a new enemy around, possibly more than one if Vincent's warning was anything to go by. If one of them has abilities like these, there's no telling what the others might have. If you encounter an enemy, dispatch with utmost care and extreme prejudice. Keep your abilities as your trump card, to be revealed only when you are sure it won't come back to bite you in the ass. Understood?"

  The team responded in varying degrees of expressiveness, though all responses were positive. Less than a minute later, Anna approached them to drag Michael into a game of pin-the-tail which turned out to be far more painful than it should have. With their alpha sufficiently occupied, the rest of them split off to engage in activities that appealed to them the most. 

                               ~~~~~~~~~

  A dark figure raced across the rooftops of Starlight Academy's entertainment district. It moved at speeds far exceeding what was possible even for the fittest of humans, disguised as a passing shadow by the backdrop of the darkened night sky.  Upon reaching the edge of one building, it leapt fearlessly across the sixteen foot gap to land perfectly on the roof of the next building. As it did, a passing flash of light from a car in the road ahead illuminated its features for all of two seconds, revealing a perfectly aligned handsome face of a young man with a mysterious set of blood red eyes.

  Chase shifted his face out of the light and crouched low on the roof's floor. His red eyes glowed slightly and he sniffed the air tentatively before a frown suddenly appeared on his face. A few hours ago he had been quite occupied with his attempt to secure what would have been both his date and his dinner, only for the damn Vampire Princess to summon him out of nowhere for an assignment. Of course he could have refused or resisted but the compulsion ability of the Royal Family was not to be underestimated.

  Apparently a vampire had suddenly gone off grid a few days ago. All attempts to contact him had proved fruitless, leading the princess to suspect that he must have gone rogue. Which on its own wasn't much of a big deal considering the eccentric behaviors of most vamps. But this wasn't vampire homelands. This was a mortal city, and a rogue vampire in a mortal city usually meant death for a lot of people. And with the Hunters here, that could lead to a shitstorm of troubles that Von Reize wanted nothing to do with. 

  Hence the reason why he and seven other pure blooded vampires were currently scouring the city to find the rogue. Pure bloods had better physical capabilities than turned vampires, which meant that any one of them would be able to subdue the rogue should he get violent. And at this point, Chase was honestly hoping he would, because that rogue was definitely getting more than a few blows for leading Chase on such a tiresome hunt. He had been given the task of searching area around the academy and had fortunately picked up on the rogue's scent a while ago.  He had tracked it all the way down to this place where it suddenly stopped. 

  Slowly Chase moved over to the edge of the building. The scent had gotten stronger, which meant that his target must have been very active here. Looking up ahead, Chase realized that he could see the academy's buildings just across the roads that separated there from the district, meaning that the rogue hadn't even gotten that far from the school. Biting back an angry curse, Chase vaulted over the roof's edge and landed silently on the ground. 

  Almost immediately he was assaulted with the heavy scent of blood that caused his eyes to widen. The blood belonged to a vampire, and no vampire would ever willingly use so much blood even for Blood Magic. Something was definitely not right here. He had to report this immediately—

  A silver blade carved soundlessly through the air and across the space where Chase's neck had been a second ago. The hooded figure that had appeared out of no where seemed a bit surprised at its failed assassination attempt and turned its gaze to the side where the shadow cast by the nearby building had begun to writh eerily as if alive. Moments later, Chase crawled out of the shadows slowly, his eyes fixed on the figure, or rather it's blade. The red smear on it matched the fresh wound on the side of his neck. Had not been a master of Shadow Travel, he would have certainly perished in that first attack. 

  "Who are you?" Chase asked and received his answer in the form of the same silver blade nearly finishing its earlier job. This time though, Chase had the advantage of being aware of hood enemy's presence, allowing him to dodge the attack albeit barely. 

  This person was fast. Far too fast for a vampire and definitely way to fast for a human, which was exactly what this person was. Chase's senses had never failed him before and  right now, they were telling him to get the hell out there. A fight with an enemy like this was not one he could win.

  "Sore wa kyōmibukai nōryokudesu," the hooded figure finally spoke. 

  'That's definitely a female,' Chase thought as he watched her carefully. 'But that language? It sounds Eastern, but I can't tell which exactly....'

  "Shikashi," she continued and pointed her sword at him. "Nidoto go riyō itadakemasen."

  Her sword began to let out an unsettling black glow. The hairs on the back of Chase's neck immediately stood on edge and he instantly knew that his life was in grave danger. His palm opened as he sent his power into the shadows below him, compelling them to open up and—

  "Fūjiru."

—collapse back uselessly on the stony ground. Chase stumbled back in shock away from that spot. A cold sweat broke out down his back when he reached for the shadows of another wall and they refused to respond to his will. A quick glance backward showed that the girl had began to approach him. 

  'What the heck was that? Why did my powers stop working? It must have something to do with that sword!'

  With the assassin once again on the attack, Chase shelved all his questions for later immediately. With his main source of escape mysteriously cut off, it seemed that a battle with this unknown enemy had become inevitable. He widened his stance and flexed his fingers, feeling them elongate into sharp claws. His eyes quickly went from yellow to a bright crimson as the claws at the tips of his fingers slowly turned red. The rush of his Blood Magic flowing through his body left Chase feeling far more comfortable than he had felt all night long. 

  He moved first, kicking off the ground and crossing the distance between himself and the girl so quickly that she could not react. At least that was what he had thought at first. That quickly changed when the girl deflected his left hand with her sword and nearly removed the entire arm at the shoulder had he not backpedaled in the next second. Chase didn't stop until he had put more distance between him and the girl. His mind struggled to come to terms with what he had experienced. The exchange had lasted less than three seconds, yet he could already tell that something was wrong. The girl was not only too fast, but her strength far surpassed that of a pure blood vampire like him despite his use of Blood Magic. 

  'That's it,' he surmised with a frown. 'I can't beat this one, not in my own. I'll need to retreat and—'

  The girl pointed her sword at him once again. "Fūjiru."

  The redness drained from Chase's eyes and claws in an instant. He stumbled back, his stance unbalanced by the sudden and drastic weakness that hit in the unexplainable absence of his Blood Magic. In his confusion addled state of mind, Chase was barely able to see the girl disappear from his line of sight and reappear behind him. The silver blade gleamed in the moonlight, dripping with viscous red liquid. The body of the vampire collapsed a second later and soon disappeared in a bright but brief flash of flames.

  Throughout the entire fight, the girl's hood remained undisturbed, ensuring that her identity remained unknown. She turned to her sword and clicked her tongue in annoyance at the blood coating the beautiful weapon. Silently, a taller similarly hooded figure dropped down beside her and handed her a small cleaning cloth. 

  "Anata wa amarini mo ōku no jikan o muda ni shimashita."

  She spent a few seconds cleaning her sword before replying. "Watashi wa korera no kyūketsuki ga dekiru koto o mitakatta."

  "To?"

  "Yowa sugiru," she answered and sheathed her sword at her waist beneath her cloak. "Sū-nichi inai ni kono toshi zentai o issō dekiru hazudesu."

  The taller figure turned to the rapidly disappearing pile of ashes in the middle of the alley and hummed quietly. "Watashitachi no mokuhyō o wasurenaide kudasai. Korera wa ki ni suru hitsuyō wa arimasen."

  The girl tilted her head slightly upward, exposing the lower half of her face and her smooth porcelain skin. Pale blue eyes gazed from beneath the darkness of the hood upon the full moon up in the night sky. 

  "Shitte iru," she said, her lips drawn back in a cruel smile.