Hunter squats down as if to buckle his shoes. He looks over his shoulder to find a man in a hoodie quickly taking cover behind a tree. 'That guy?'
[Yes, he was on the same train you took to the Metropolitan]
'I see.' Hunter said as he continued his walk back home, the stalker closely behind.
The sprite quickly takes a turn and the stalker races after him only to be welcomed with a punch to the face from Hunter when he too took the same turn. The man falls on his butt, grabs his bleeding nose, and looks up at Hunter who stood tall in front of him. "Why are you following me?" Hunter inquired.
The man scoffs, reaches for his pocket, and pulled out a gun. Hunter quickly takes a step back to guard himself but the stalker is uninterested in him and instead fires the gun to the sky. A signal flare shoots into the night air.
'A flare gun?' Hunter thought.
[Do you feel that?]
"I see them," Hunter says as multiple hooded men jump into the scene. "No wonder this street was unusually empty."
Hunter clenches his fist and quickly counts the number of assailants in front of him, "thirteen". He looks down at the man he had earlier greeted with his fist, "well ... fourteen."
The man rose to his feet, rushing towards Hunter who forms a pink energy around his fist and punches him back to the ground. The sprite turns his attention to the others, "how are we doing this, are you coming at me one at a time or all of you at once?"
Three of the men step up but are dropped by shots fired from elsewhere. "What in the world?!" Hunter exclaimed.
[Your eleven]
Hunter looked up to the building on his left to find a girl with short shaggy black hair wielding a pistol, shooting at the hooded men from the rooftop. 'Leah,' he thought.
Once the vampire was done gunning down the men, she climbs down from the spot to the ground. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I saw the man behind you but didn't know whether or not he was following you," Leah said.
"Okay? That doesn't answer my question though, what are you doing here?" He repeated.
"Jade asked me to follow you," she revealed.
"Jade did what?!" Hunter exclaimed. "Since when? Is that why you're never around?" He queried.
"I don't know," Leah said, "she said you might need protection so I have to keep eyes on you at all times," she explained.
"At all t -- Oh m --" Hunter sighs looking around, the one he had knocked down now regaining consciousness. Leah hands him a pair of handcuffs which the sprite uses to cuff the man to a nearby pole.
"Why are you following me?" Hunter inquired but the man looks away, "I'm not telling you anything, might as well just kill me now and get it over with," the man flatly replied.
Hunter turns to face Leah, "you can compel him to tell the truth right, now that I think about it, Jade didn't use any compulsion skills on Joseph ... Can vampires compel one's mind?" Hunter asked.
"Of course they can," Leah replies, "Jade didn't compel the Soul Snatcher because testimonies and confessions made while under mind compulsion are overlooked by mystic courts," she explained. "I already call Jade, she should be here any minute now," she added.
Hunter furrows his eyebrows, "What's stopping you from compelling our friend here?" He asked.
"Oh ... I think it would be better if Jade does it," she said, taking a step back. Hunter felt a gush of wind and turn to find the aforementioned Jade behind him. "What the hell happened here?" The pale-skinned woman said taking in the scene.
"Hunter was attacked," Leah said.
"Right. Call in the Laundry," Jade ordered. "Are you okay?" She asked the sprite.
"I'm fine," he replies, "I just found out Leah's been following me all this time," he said.
"Of course," Jade said. "The council acquitted you on the condition that you be monitored at all times by the Public Safety and Demon Control agency. I appointed Leah as your watchdog since she's more than capable of protecting but if you are uncomfortable with that I could have her replaced. Keep in mind that being monitored is mandatory," she explained.
"I see," Hunter said. "You see what?" Jade asks.
"Leah should remain my watchdog."
"Good. Why's that guy cuffed to a pole?"
"I wanted to question him for a bit but he's not answering, thought you could help out," Hunter stated.
Jade nods and walks to the man. She grabs him by the chin and levels his eyes to hers. "You will answer truthfully whatever question you're asked," she said, compelling the man.
Hunter looks from Jade to the man then back at Jade again, "that's it, I'll ask him anything and he'd respond?"
"Were you expecting light to glow around us?"
"Matter of fact? Yes."
Jade rolls her eyes while Hunter turns to the stalker. "Why were you following me?"
"To make sure you don't get to the girl and ruin our plans," the man answered.
"What girl?" Jade asks.
"The one with the specter eyes," he responded.
Jade turns to Hunter, "You know someone with specter eyes?" She asked confused.
"Yeah ... How did you know she had specter eyes?" Hunter asks the man.
"The guy that was following you heard her tell you about it," the man replied.
"Wait, you knew someone with specter eyes and didn't kill her?" Jade said confused.
"You too?" Hunter frowned.
"You were asked to kill her and didn't?!!" Jade exclaimed even more shocked than before.
"Why would -- stop distracting me!" Hunter said to Jade before turning back to the man, "where is the girl with the specter eyes now?" He asks.
"Should be with him now," he stated.
"Who's 'him'?" [Wait, Hunter no!]
"It's --" before the man could say finish his sentence, an elongated, boneless, flexible organ burst out of his mouth, followed by another leaving the man lifeless.
"Ugh," Hunter said stepping away from the man.
"This again?" Jade said.
[You know what this means, right?]
'Fuck!'
Hunter takes out his phone and attempts to call Sophia but no one picks up. "Do you know where she lives?" Jade asks him.
"What?"
"The girl with the specter eyes, do you know where she lives?"
"Yes," Hunter nods. "Let's go then."
...
The car pulls up in front of Sophia's apartment. Hunter jumps out of the car and runs straight to the door which he finds unlocked. He walked into the room to find the furnitures and appliances scattered and turned, Sophia put up a fight before she was taken.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Hunter shakes his head. "Is she here?" Jade asks.
The sprite shakes his head, unable to respond with words. "What now?" Leah said with a low voice.
"Judging by the tentacles, whoever had Joseph George going around kidnapping mystical beings - the same guy who has an unknown type of magic - now has the specter eyes and we have no idea who or where he is," Jade stated.
"I have an idea," Hunter said.
"What are you thinking?" Jade asks.
"Call the morgue."
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