"You can't let it escape." Joshua yelled at Derrick as they ran around chasing a demon. It had been three weeks since the mission to Holmes Private School and since then, he had been on missions almost every day.
Some of them were easy, some were challenging but not as much as the Holmes Private School mission.
On this particular mission, he was partnered with Rosalind and Joshua. Rosalind had become a lot more outgoing with Derrick than she was when they first met. Although, he couldn't shake off the 'younger brother' statement she had made back then.
Joshua on the other hand was still friendly with him but he seemed a bit reserved, like he was if he was afraid that Derrick would snap one day and try to kill him.
The three of them were told that there was a demon in an old abandoned subway station. It sounded ominous yet cliche at the same time; like something you'd see in a movie.
When they got there, Derrick was half expecting a large and intimidating demon like the one he had seen at Holmes Private School. Contrarily, when they got there, they met a very small creature, about one foot tall with dull red eyes and two tiny horns.
"Awwn." was Joshua's first reaction which clearly, the demon didn't like.
Derrick immediately brought out his sword and swung it in the direction of the demon, but the little demon avoided it. It was incredibly agile. In one moment, it had jumped high in the air to avoid Derrick's sword.
While it was in the air , it kicked Derrick in the face. He was about to fall back or wince when he realized that he didn't feel anything from the hit. The demon began running away from them and they chased after trying to catch and kill it.
It wasn't strong or intimidating but catching it was difficult. The demon was small and agile making it incredibly hard to catch. Rosalind tried to construct different weapons to strike it into the ground but it dodged all of them. It worked in its favor that the demon was incredibly small; it made it hard to aim directly at it.
Vines sprung out of the ground suddenly and started chasing it. This was because of Joshua's heavenly pact - the ability to manipulate plant life, agrokinesis.
Unfortunately, the plants couldn't successfully catch it. Derrick ran after it, trying as much as possible not to get caught by the vines or shot by Rosalind's weapons.
The demon continuously scampered around, weaving through pillars and giving them a hard time. Derrick was just about frustrated with the chase when he heard a familiar whistling sound.
The demon clutched it's head, fell to the floor, started shrieking and rolling around then it's head blew off.
Rosalind and Joshua were both surprised but Derrick wasn't. He knew who the whistle came from and it was the one person he didn't want to meet on a mission.
"It's good to see you." he said with a smirk.
From a concealed part of the subway station, Angelina walked out casually. She wore a slightly fitted multi color shirt with a pair of baggy blue jeans and a pair of plain white shoes.
"Good to see you too." She said bluntly. "Now tell me what the hell it is you're doing here."
Ironically, even though he had been a hunter for almost two months, he'd never come across her on a mission or at The Garden; and when they did meet at home, he never mentioned that he was a hunter; something that was very deliberate.
Meeting her at the subway at a time like this was actually pretty funny. Derrick could barely keep himself from bursting into fits of laughter.
Even if he wanted to lie, he would have a hard time coming up with a good lie because she had just seen him chase a demon through an abandoned subway which he shouldn't know about, and he was holding a sword. It was a difficult situation.
"What are you doing here?" Derrick asked, calmly trying to redirect the attention back to her.
"I'm a hunter. I was supposed to be off today. I was just about to go home to meet you when I got a call that a team might need my help." She responded equally calmly but with evidence of controlled anger.
"Now answer me. What are you doing here?"
Derrick exhaled and said "I'm a hunter now."
When Joshua saw Angelina, his facial expression displayed recognition, fear and respect all at once.
"Joshua, Rosalind, nice to see you both" Angelina greeted without taking her eyes off Derrick.
"Nice to see you too Angelina" Joshua said with his head bent low like he was about to bow.
"You have a lot of explaining to do" Angelina said to Derrick as she walked past three of them in the direction of the exit.
"Where are you going?" Derrick asked after her.
"The Garden" Angelina responded without looking back.
Derrick, Joshua and Rosalind followed her since they were headed in the same direction.
"You didn't tell me she was your sister." Joshua accused Derrick as they walked.
"Weren't you there when Professor Finch asked me?" Derrick responded.
"Oh" was all Joshua managed to say.
"She's as impressive as they say." Rosalind said in admiration.
"They say?" Derrick inquired.
"She's only been at The Garden for five months, yet she's clearly the best rookie and has killed more demons than some who had been there before her."
"Of course she has." Derrick said with a bit of a smirk.
When they got back to the Garden, they made a report to Finch who and after that, Angelina practically dragged Derrick home.
She was really angry that Derrick became a hunter in the same organization as her and avoided her for seven weeks. She felt it was deliberate which it was but he wasn't going to tell her that.
Later that night, Derrick walked into his room and saw Angelina sitting by his window pane.
"If you plan to stay there, how am I supposed to sneak out?" Derrick asked in a tone that could be considered as serious.
"That's the point." Angelina said as she looked at Derrick dead in the eye. They stared at each other for half a minute and started laughing.
Derrick came to sit at the edge of his bed, facing her so they could talk.
"What's it been like, the past couple of weeks?" She asked
"Not that bad actually, I spent most of it training." He responded
"You should have told me when you became a hunter." She said.
"You would have tried to talk me out of it." He said.
"But it's dangerous"
"It's dangerous for you too. You're still my little sister. I should be the one protecting you"
"But…bu-" Angelina struggled with what to say.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine." Derrick cut in.
"You promise?" She asked.
Derrick got up from his bed, walked up to her, placed his hand on her head and rubbed her head.
"I promise. No matter what mission I'll come back alive."
"Good" she said with a wide smile that made Derrick remember things that happened from when they were much younger. The two of them were inseparable, even back then.
The two of them sat together, laughed and caught up.
The next morning, Finch assigned Derrick, Joshua and Rosalind a new mission to the same old abandoned subway station.
Just before they got there, Joshua expressed that he expected this mission to be like the previous day's mission; something Derrick partially agreed with.
The moment they stepped in, Derrick changed his mind. Derrick felt uneasy as he walked through the subway station. Every step he took, his heart started beating faster.
Joshua and Rosalind probably didn't feel it because not long after they stepped in, they started arguing about something. Derrick wasn't surprised. He knew he was much better at perceiving danger than they were but even so, hearing them argue like that when they were most likely on the verge of being the ones hunted out.
Derrick turned back and snapped at them.
"Would you two just shut up for a second." He yelled "I have a feeling this wouldn't be like yesterday."
After this, they shut up.
As he turned back to face the direction he was walking, saw himself face to face with a demon smiling madly at him. The demon was so close to his face that Derrick couldn't believe he didn't sense it beforehand. None of them saw it coming, none of them knew.
The demon was just about Derrick's height with a slim muscular build. It had gleaming green eyes and a pair of long horns which bent backwards.
Before he could react, the demon's hand was already on Derrick's shoulder. Derrick couldn't move. It was like the demon paralyzed him with his touch. It then threw Derrick into a pillar, which cracked as Derrick's body made contact with it.
Even from that first act, one thing was clear: this was stronger than any demon he had ever faced before, even the one at Holmes Private School.
"This is definitely not like yesterday" Derrick mentally noted as he choked down a fearful gulp.