Chapter 3

As my ear brushed against the cold surface of my Iphone, my heart beated faster by the minute.

"Hello?" I was never one to be nervous, so why I felt so worried about what the person on the other end was going to say? I wasn't sure.

"This is Rem Baker from the Hunter's Society. It is a pleasure to be talking to the legendary hunter who got kicked out ..."

Yeah, thanks for the reminder, dickhead. I thought.

"Enough with the formalities. There has been a problem and we need you to report back to headquarters immediately We need your help."

I breathed heavily into the speaker and I could feel my head fuming.

"Let me get this straight. You guys kicked me out and now that you have an issue you can't solve you come crawling back to me!?" I screamed into my phone.

I waited for a reply on the receivers side, but instead heard someone saying in the background, "Now you got her angry. I told you to let me handle it. Just give me the phone." Waiting for a few moments, I was then greeted with a familiar voice. "Thana. It's been a while."

"K-Kenji. Is that you?!"

"Hey little one, it's good to hear your voice again. There is an urgent matter that I need to discuss with you. Something bad is happening and we need you."

"Kenji, I can't go down that road again. What happened all those years ago, it still haunts me to this day."

"I thought you would've found peace after three years." Kenji took a deep breath and continued, "You know I wouldn't be calling you unless absolutely necessary. Something is terrorizing the human and supernatural world, Thana. Please, come and listen to what I've got to say tomorrow at headquarters at 2pm. If you don't come, I'll understand."

I remained silent, and Kenji replied with a heavy sigh.

"Thana, you are not a monster. This time, I promise you, it'll be different. Because you won't have to stand alone again."

Kenji then hung up on me and I finally let out a huge breath of relief after holding it in for almost the entirety of the phone call.

"This is total bullshit!" I threw myself onto the bed and and let out a cry of pain when I knocked my head on the bed frame. After all this time, I kept telling myself that I didn't miss hunting at all. But, it was all a lie. I missed it. "I need a break from this place."

After 20 minutes, I found myself sitting at the stools in an almost empty tavern called, The Underground.

"Here on a Thursday night? Now that's definitely a surprise."

Looking up from my drink I see Braxton, the owner of the local tavern and immediately greeted him with a warm smile.

"Something bothering you?"

"Exam stress."

"Tell you what, drinks on me tonight," Brax winked at me and then gave me two thumbs up. "I'm finishing up my shift for tonight. Wife hasn't been too happy 'bout me working the late shifts. Also, you should call Seth to come pick you up later. Some funny business has been happening around here recently."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. And say hi to Sally for me."

Brax hung up his apron behind the bar and then waved me a goodnight before he left to return home to his wife and children. I was lost in my own thoughts until a tall and bulky man sat next to me and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey pretty lady, why don't you let me buy you a drink."

I ignored the mans attempts and continued drinking my soda.

"Come on now sweetheart, a drink won't hurt."

"Okay mate, I'm really not in the mood tonight. So why don't you back off."

The man grabbed my shoulder aggressively, and then forced me to look at him. "Maybe you didn't hear my clearly-"

"Take your filthy hands off her right now, or you're gonna find yourself in some trouble."

Immediately, the man took his arms off my shoulder and hissed at the voice.

"Leave. Now."

Giving my savior one last hiss, the bulky man gave me a look of anger before storming out the tavern.

I mumble a thankyou and then look up at the person who had just saved me. The guy standing in front of me was breathtaking.

"You must be Thana?"

How did he know my name?

"Brax was telling me about you. How you're quite the frequenter here at the tavern."

"Y-yeah I a-am," I stuttered. This was the first time I had found myself in a situation where I was lost for words.

"It's getting late. It's time you went home now, Thana."

I raised my eyebrows at the stranger who I had just met and was already telling me what to do.

"The streets aren't safe during these dangerous times. It's best you return home now."

Feeling compelled, I walk to the exit and then turn around back and ask him, "Since you know my name, isn't it only fair that you tell me yours?"

He smiled at me and replied, "I'm the new bartender for the late shifts. We'll just leave it at that. Goodnight, Miss Thana."

Staring at Mr. Mysterious who was now occupied with cleaning the glasses, I give him a smirk, and then leave the tavern. I reckon I'm gonna start visiting the Tavern a lot more from now on.

After walking at a solid pace for 10 minutes, I felt the air get colder and the presence of someone following me. Standing under the dim of the only street lamp, my head turned back and forth scanning my environment as I began to feel vulnerable. Suddenly, out of no where, a hand went around my mouth and then another around my waist as I was dragged into the depths of an abandoned alleyway. My attacker pushed me against the brick wall, and then he leant in to lick my face. He then proceeded to whisper in my ear, "See, if you had taken my drink offer before, we wouldn't be in this sticky situation then, would we?"

"You bastard, take this!" I kick the man in the groin and sprinted away, but then an unbelievable force tackled me down onto the ground, and then flipped me onto my back.

"Tch, tch, tch. I guess three years of not hunting has made you weak. You're clearly not up to the standard the rumors said you were."

He was right, I had gone weak after three years of not training. Laying on my back, I stared into the flickering eyes of the man from the Tavern who now overpowered me. "Demon."

Licking his lips, he replied, "Correct. Now, I'm excited to see what the hunter who was once the strongest and most feared tastes like." Whilst he forced himself onto my lips and down my neck, I reached for my pocket knife stowed in a secret pocket I had sewn inside my jeans, and stabbed his legs. With adrenaline rushing through my blood stream, I got up from the floor and was about to take off, but then stopped myself when I remembered something. I'm a hunter. I don't run from monsters. They run from me.

The demon screamed in pain and stared at me with anger as I had stabbed him with an enchanted knife. Using his demon powers, he rushed towards me faster than Usain Bolt himself. Reacting a fraction too slow, he knocked me against the stone wall, and I felt trickles of warm droplets drip rush down my neck. I pulled myself up to fight the demon when an unknown person from above landed in front of me. Without any hesitation, his hand grabbed onto the demons head, and after muttering something, the demon clutched his hands on his head screaming in pain. Seconds later, the demons piercing cry stopped when his head burst open, and green blood sprinkled everywhere.

"Damn, now I got my jacket dirty. Maybe I went a bit too far..." The unknown stranger stood brushing the blood off his jacket, whilst I stood staring at him with total disbelief.

"W-who are you?"

The stranger turned towards me and tilted his head down slightly.

"I-It's you! You're the stalker guy from before! Why the hell did you just save me!?"

"I wouldn't necessarily call it stalking, more like observing. Second, if I didn't save your ass you would've been demon meat. And honestly, it's only been three years, and look at the mess of a hunter you've become," replied the stranger whilst laughing at how pathetic my fighting skills were just then.

"I-I haven't... I've still been going to the gym. And plus, I've been busy with other stuff! And who the hell are you to tell me whether I'm weak or not. The day I left the Hunter's Society, I swore to have nothing to do with hunting anymore."

"Tell me honestly, do you really love this normal and boring life over hunting monsters and protecting people?!"

I started to say something, but then stopped myself, as the stranger was right. Although I loved this new peaceful life, it didn't give me the same feeling of when I saved someone from a monster. "Who are you, and why the hell do you know so much about me?"

The man stared up at the moon and answered, "Friend. Enemy. You decide." With a click of his fingers, the man disappeared into thin air, and I was left standing alone in the darkness, with a dead demon body next to me on the floor, green blood splattered onto my clothes, and the sudden reminder that I still had an assignment to finish tonight.