Within their first week in New York, everything went to hell. Nothing Jared did could prevent the utter chaos she unleashed. She had lost control before disappearing for months. Their leader and himself hunted for her to no avail until two weeks ago. Both of them had been trailing her since. Jared thought for sure they would never be in a position to nab her. However, when the opportunity presented itself, the gang members made quick work of grabbing her first.
Their intentions for the girl appeared to be malicious in intent, even though they told her they wanted nothing more than the belongings in her bag. He figured they would do much worse, their auras were muddled with the colors of desire. His inner beast clawed at his soul, demanding to be released, to protect what was rightfully theirs. Master Mimeo ordered him not to interfere, only observe for the time being. That was the hardest thing he ever tried to do.
Four on one should have been a relatively easy victory for the girl. To his disbelief, she put up a weak fight. Her movements were clumsy, unrefined as if she lost all her years of training. He was fully aware something went wrong. The men should have been dispatched without much effort by her hands alone and not by using her avatar. The fight, although brief resulted in an equal outcome. Her full ferocity was scarcely contained.
As they moved through the crowd, none of the people even noticed their passage. All of them too focused on the horrendous sight. An odd sensation filled the chilled night air; a sense of foreboding surrounded him. Briefly, Jared grew uneasy. His Master seemed to tense up as well, an odd occurrence for one such as him. The feeling faded as they entered a better section to view the girl.
"Did you feel that?" he asked Mimeo.
"Yes, be cautious and keep a vigilant watch."
"Do you think it's her?"
"No, it's something far worse than our wayward student."
"What can be worse than a rogue vessel?"
"Jared there are many things that lurk in this city, some walk in broad daylight alongside the humans. Others stay hidden for fear of discovery. Many of them are far worse than the girl."
Mimeo's words perplexed him, now more concern flooded over him for the waif of a girl.
Jared turned his attention back to the scene, from within the cover of the mass of people they watched everything going on. They stood across the street from the building they led her out of. Her short stature and tiny frame were dwarfed even more by the men leading her to the patrol car. But then again, she had always been kind of a shrimp.
The flurry of activity on the road helped to obfuscate them from their target. The wet and messy long tawny hair stuck to the sides of her freckle covered cheeks. His heart dropped seeing her large brown eyes and innocent face.
The black eye had started to develop as did the bruise on her chin and the split lip swelled and bled a bit. The black t-shirt was torn and stretched out of shape around the neck. Her pale skin showed from the holes sliced into the thin material by the attacker's knife. A few of the cuts left small nicks, which he could tell had stopped bleeding.
As the officers led her towards the police cruiser, her gaze darted over the crowd and she appeared confused. Guilt welled in him, he wanted to rush over to her, but he swiftly suppressed the urge. He knew he would need to keep a close eye on her. A firm grip on his shoulder made him turn to his mentor.
The man's appearance was untouched by time since they first met so many years ago. Mimeo always stood with perfect posture, his face clean-shaven with stern icy black eyes. Those inky obsidian orbs held more secrets than Jared cared to ever learn. His mentor removed his tattoo covered hand from his shoulder, bringing it back to rest atop his cane.
"Now what?"
"Now we wait to see if she returns to her mission on her own. If not we will have to re-acquire her," Master Mimeo stated.
"And if she puts up a fight?"
"That is why you were permitted to join me on this mission."
With those words, the ancient man turned and faded into the shadows. Jared didn't dare to linger and followed quickly behind him.