The Hunters

Olivia decided to rest for a bit before heading out into the camp again. Her current plan was to get in contact with the hunters to see if she could get more information on searching for relics. She however was worried that this kind of information wouldn't come cheap.

As the sun started to set Olivia slipped out the door. Dr. Richardson was at his desk working away and didn't really notice when Olivia said she was going out to find some dinner. Once she was out of the building Olivia made her way through the streets to the edge of the encampment. It was there that she saw a small camp of hunters. There were two young men and an older gentleman sitting around a camp fire exchanging stories of their adventures.

Olivia didn't now how they would react to someone walking into their camp so she took it slow and made sure her hands could be seen as to not arouse their suspicions.

The older man was gruff looking with scars on his face and silver hair. The other two looked like they were in their mid twenties and had no battle scars that Olivia could see. One of them had cropped brown hair, while the other one had long black hair that was held back by a leather cord.

The old man looked up as Olivia was walking towards their camp.

"Well look'it here boys. Looks like we got us a mouse scurrying around our camp." Olivia heard his gravel like voice and shuddered.

"What'ya suppose a critter like her is doing round these parts?" He asked his men.

"Perhaps she is lost." The man with the long black hair replied.

"Who are you calling a mouse?" Olivia replied, thankful that her voice didn't quiver as she spoke. "Also I'm not lost. I'm here with the archival team and I am looking for some information."

"Information don't come cheap around these parts missy." The old man spat.

"Lay off the girl Rob, she just got here." The man with the brown hair replied. "Don't worry miss we won't hurt you. Why don't you come over and tell us what you need?" He patted the bench beside him.

Olivia wasn't sure she believed him and wondered if they would chase her if she ran now. She however steeled herself and walked over to the bench to take a seat by the fire. She then proceeded to explain what it was she was looking for.

"I need to find the most likely places where these artifacts might be. I don't know who found them originally or even if it was my parents that went on an expedition and found them but two ended up in my hands and to figure out what they are I am looking for the others."

"Well lets see 'em if you have 'em now. Would make it easier to know what we was lookin fer." Rob leaned in. He figured he might be able to get some good credits for these so called artifacts. Getting them from the girl would prove to be too easy.

"Unfortunately the samples I had got destroyed while doing research. However they are about this big..." Olivia made a fist and held it up. "It's made of some kind of metal, is perfectly round, and has a mirror finish."

The men all sat there in thought for a few moments. Olivia was worried that she wasn't going to get any helpful information from them and would be back at square one. While the men were quiet Olivia got a message that she did not want to see from her system.

[Your hunger has grown.]

[You have 24 hours to consume human blood before it starts to affect your hp.]

Olivia then felt a sharp pain in her stomach akin to what one would feel if they hadn't eaten in days.

'This is not good.' Olivia thought as she clenched her stomach. 'I was hoping I had more time.'

"Are you alright miss?" The dark haired man asked

Olivia took a deep breath and straightened up. "I'll be OK. Thanks for being so kind." She smiled at him.

The old man then had a thought. He may not know where these artifacts came from but the girl didn't now that. He was disappointed that the girl didn't have the artifacts on her but there was another way he could get credits out of her and let the rest of his boys have a little fun.

"I recon there might be something like that at the hunters guild, and if not then there should be someone there that could help you." Rob leered at Olivia. "Of course you would have to pay for any assistance from the guild."

The black haired man didn't like where this conversation was going. "Rob you know you can't take her there. It's too dangerous for a young girl."

"You keep out of this Shin. Any revoltin' gets you kicked out of the guild."

Olivia watched as Shin stood and got between her and Rob. She was hoping to gain his trust so that she could hire him to help her with any expedition she would go on.

"Tony would you knock some sense into your friends thick skull? The guild could use a girl like this and I'm sure the archival team would pay well for her safe return." Rob tried to reason with his guild mates.

When Olivia heard this hear heart started pounding in her chest. She knew there would be a chance something like this might happen but was hoping she could talk her way out of this situation by telling them she was part of the archival team and that if she went missing they would come looking for her.

"I'm sorry boss but this isn't right. I'm not about kidnapping girls and handing them over to the wolves." Tony replied.

"I'll have both of your guild memberships, and your heads for this!" Rob shouted as he drew his sword that had been sheathed to his back.

"You do not want to do that Rob." Shin pulled two short swords from their sheaths and took a defensive stance.

"Hey now! I'm sure we can settle this peaceful like. Just let the girl go Rob." Tony raised his hands and tried to defuse the situation.

"There is no settling this peacefully! You went against my orders and I won't stand for it!" Rob growled as he stepped forward and slashed at Shin.

Tony knew what was going to happen and grabbed Olivia by the arm.

"Hey what are you doing?" She asked surprised when she felt a hand on her arm.

"You need to get out of here while you can." Tony replied.

Olivia quickly scrambled out of the way but she didn't run back to the encampment. She watched as Shin deftly dodged the attack.

Shin was younger and faster than Rob but the old man had more fighting experience. The Earth camps weren't always as peaceful as they are now and one had to learn how to fight to survive.

This didn't mean Shin was a push over either. Honour dictated that he must protect the girl no matter what and that was exactly what he was going to do. Shin was a master swordsman and wielded his twin blades expertly. He was able to block all of Rob's advances but was getting pushed back due to Rob's strength. He needed to finish this quickly. He didn't relish taking another life but Shin knew that Rob would not relent until he got what he wanted.

The moment he saw an opening Shin made his move. He used his great speed to dodge Rob's attack, moved in behind him and plunged one of his blades into Rob's chest. 

Rob jerked at the sudden attack and slowly fell to the ground as his blood soaked the earth below him.

As this happened Olivia cried out, weather in relief or fear she didn't know. But the moment the scent of blood hit her nose Olivia became a different person.