Hunters: Chapter Two

The Hunters

~02~

Yin Yang

Yin's weapon, Libra. Looks cool right?

The sun just peaked above the horizon and woke a young woman from sleep. She slipped into a pair of slippers and walked around her room. She wore a lilac night gown as she grabbed clothes for the day and a fresh towel. After she was done, she walked out into the hallway. Her feet landed lightly on the floor barely making a noise. She slipped into the bathroom and took a shower.

When she emerged she put on her clothes. She wore dark purple fitting pants with black mid-calf boots that didn’t have much of a heel to them. Tight dark purple arm warmers stretched from just below her armpit to her wrist. A bracelet was wrapped around her right wrist. It was a simple bracelet with three beads strung together. One was white, the middle was lilac, and the third was dark purple. She had a white dress on but the length was only up to her mid-thigh and was sleeveless with a high collar. The hem was a dark purple along with an ‘X’ shaped cloth belt that she wore. She brushed a few strands of her short black hair out of her eyes. Streaks of purple colored her hair.

When she was finished, she walked briskly and quietly to another bed room. She knocked and when there was no answer she opened the door. Her eyes widened in surprise when no one was there. There was just an empty bed, a desk full of books and papers, a mirror and a door leading to a private bathroom. She looked up at the upper balcony that led to the roof but the door was locked from the inside. 

The woman closed the door and walked down some stairs. She turned the corner and stopped suddenly. A man stood in front of a small stove. He wore a grey cloak and hat. A purple cloth draped down from his hat and at the other end was a large silver pocket stop watch. The man had long silver white hair. He turned and looked at her. A smile crept across his face, large and bordering on insanity. But there was nothing threatening about the smile. The young lady smiled back.

“Well, good morning, Yin,” he spoke slowly.

“Morning, master,” Yin said as she grabbed a pair of plates for setting the small table.

“We’ll need three this morning,” the man stated.

Yin looked at him, “Who will be visiting?”

“Akaban just finished with a mission and should be back in the city this morning,” the man grabbed a pair of eggs from a basket nearby and cracked them over the skillet.

Yin smiled as she set the table, “Did he say he would visit?”

“No,” the man smiled, “but I know he will.”

There were times Yin forgot that her master was one of the Elite by birth. The Elite never seemed to grow old similar to vampires and had a wide range of mysterious power. Because her master was an Elite also meant that he had unexplained power as well. Yin had learned not to question her master and simply do as he said.

“Yin,” the man asked when she finished with the table.

“Yes, master?” Yin responded.

“Set a room up for Akaban. Vampire or not, I’m sure he would like to rest a while,” he poured the omelet onto a plate.

Yin bowed at the waist and went back upstairs to set up a room for their guest. When she finished she returned to the kitchen just as there was a knock at the door. The man was placing the warm food on the table when the knock happened.

“Right on time,” he said with a smile.

“I’ll get it,” Yin said as she walked through a curtain of beads.

She walked into what looked like a shop. It wasn’t a large shop but it was open so that the cashier could see the doings on and not have to leave the desk. Yin walked to the front of the store and undid the latch. She pulled the door open causing a small bell to ring.

“Hello, Akaban,” Yin greeted, “We’ve been expecting you.”

Akaban wore a black suit and black wide brimmed hat. His blood red vampire eyes didn’t show any emotion. He walked in without giving her much notice. When he entered, Yin closed the door.

“May I take your hat?” Yin offered, “I’ll put it in your room.”

Akaban took off his hat and handed it to her. His black hair fell to his shoulders, “I don’t plan on staying long.”

Yin bowed politely, “My master says otherwise. Please, follow me.”

The door to the kitchen was to the left if one had just entered the store. Yin went upstairs while Akaban entered the kitchen. His gaze fell first on the table. There were three perfectly made omelets and a few links of sausage were left on each plate. A pile of toast was on a plate in the center of the table. His eyes rose to the man in grey. The man sipped a red liquid from a wine class. There was another glass of red liquid across the table from him. A regular cup of water was left for the girl.

Akaban rolled his eyes, “No wonder you’re half crazy. You drink alcohol before its even seven in the morning.”

The man shrugged, “Once you reach your 100,000 birthday, you stop caring.”

Akaban took the other wine glass and brought it to his lips. He stopped suddenly and looked at the glass. His eyes shifted over to the man.

The man smiled, “Yes, that isn’t wine. My wrist still hurts if you want to know. Don’t let little Yin catch on, she doesn’t need to see it. I figured you might be a little thirsty after coming back.”

“Thank you,” Akaban muttered.

Yin came down the stairs. As she walked to her seat she grabbed her master’s wine glass and dumped its contents in the sink. She filled it again with water and gave it back to him.

“Just because your Elite doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want,” Yin sat down, “You still need to eat healthy, master.”

The man smiled, “Why didn’t you take his?”

“He’s our guest,” Yin said as she cut her omelet into small pieces, “He can do what he wants with his own diet. With you, you are my responsibility. You can live a healthy billion years or you can live a sickly billion years.”

The man laughed, “Whatever you say, mommy.”

“It’s good to see someone is taking care of you, Undertaker,” Akaban said as he sipped his drink.

Undertaker smiled. His green eyes shimmered from under his bangs. He cut his food and ate quietly. Akaban looked at Undertaker a while longer before getting back to his meal.

“So how was your mission?” Yin asked quietly, “Did you fight anything strong?”

“A level five demon causing a small village some trouble,” Akaban said casually, “Nothing to write home about.”

“Yin,” Undertaker looked at her, “Define demon.”

Yin placed her silverware down, “Demon: half human, half vampire on the father side. The nasty pieces of work lose their sense of humanity and turn into monsters.”

Akaban looked at her, “Nasty pieces of work?”

“That’s what master called them whenever he talked about them,” Yin said casually.

“A young lady like you shouldn’t talk like that,” Akaban sighed.

“I’m eighteen,” Yin stated, “I’ve heard it all by now. Besides, he uses worse language. For example, he didn’t ever really say the word ‘work’, I just said it because the other word he used isn’t appropriate at the table.”

“All right, Yin,” Undertaker cut her off, “I think he gets the point.”

Akaban sighed, “Its official, you have ruined this poor girls childhood.”

“How so?” Undertaker asked, “She seems fine to me. She can read, write and even kill a few ghouls in the process.”

“And she knows just about every swear word ever used in history,” Akaban sat calmly.

“Akaban,” Undertaker’s eyes could be seen clearly now, “What do you think about a partner?”

Akaban didn’t even look up, “Waste of time. I can get things done faster on my own. Why?”

“Well, the Organization has a lot of new recruits and are having trouble finding enough experienced Hunters to partner them with—”

“No.”

“Now you know that the Organization splits the masses into groups of eight. Our little group has only seven—”

“No.”

“So what I did, you know with me being the leader of our group and all, I sent in a request for a new recruit—”

“No, please, no.”

“Congratulations, Akaban! You’re a new mentor! We’re meeting with the team tomorrow for formal introductions.” Undertaker smiled as if all was well.

All was not well from Akaban’s point of view. He stared hard at the man in front of him looking for any sign of a joke. Though the man was smiling, Undertaker’s stare was dead serious.

Akaban opened his mouth to respond, “Do you enjoy making my life a living nightmare? Do you lie awake at night thinking of how you can make my existence anymore miserable? What have I done? Do I owe you money? Did I wrong you in any way? If this is about how we first met, I thought that was water under the bridge. You can’t still be mad after all these years.”

Undertaker laughed, “Oh, I’m not mad. I just thought that you might want to help a new recruit out.”

“When have I cared about the welfare of others?” Akaban was very unhappy.

“Now, now, don’t be like that,” Undertaker teased, “It’s final. The arraignments have already been made. Stop looking at me like you are about to die! You’ll be fine!”

Akaban stood up and down the liquid in his cup, “I’m going upstairs. I don’t think I’m emotionally stable enough to walk home. I might throw myself into a wooden plank or something.”

Undertaker watched as the vampire walked up stairs. He rolled his eyes and stood up, “Would you clean up, Yin? I need to make sure he doesn’t commit vampire suicide.”

“We are having guests tomorrow?” Yin asked, “Are they staying for lunch?”

“Maybe,” Undertaker waved off the question, “I’m sure we can give them what’s in the fridge.”

“They cleaned us out last time,” Yin stated.

Undertaker stopped and considered it, “You’re right. Would you go to the market today?”

Yin nodded and watched as her master walked up the stairs. She finished eating and cleared the table. Yin held Akaban’s glass carefully. She knew it wasn’t really wine. It wasn’t like she was five years old but Yin always played as if she was unaware. Akaban was a vampire after all and vampires needed blood.

After she finished washing the dishes she walked upstairs to her room. As a normal human, she couldn’t hide her weapon like her master could so she kept her weapon in her room.

Libra, the name Yin gave to her weapon, was a double bladed glaive. The grip of the shaft was black with two blades, one on each end. The blades were in tear drop shapes. One blade was white, the other was dark purple. Two short strands of string hung from each end attached to small balls of the same color as the blades.

Yin strapped the glaive to her back and walked out of the store. The bell ran on the inside as she stood outside. The streets were deserted except for the occasional straggler. Buildings were partially destroyed and boarded up. The small shop was in the part of the city that was partially destroyed in an earlier war. Many people lived in this part while most of the Elite lived in the areas less destroyed.

She ran through the streets of Blye. Slowly the broken brown buildings changed into newer white ones. Buildings grew in height and people filled the streets. This section of the city was where the markets where and where the city public usually hung out. Gangs and questionable people gathered in the more damaged areas. Undertaker’s shop was safe for the most part due to the rumors that Undertaker was a hunter.

Yin stopped running only when she reached a market. She looked at a fruit stand and pondered on what to cook for the next day’s lunch.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” the vender asked.

“Do you have any pomegranates?” Yin asked.

The vender nodded, “I have a few in storage.”

“How much for three?” Yin asked.

“Ten gold riyal,” the man answered.

Someone bumped into Yin and apologized before walking away. Yin looked after the man before reaching for the pouch of money on her belt. Her hand touched nothing. She looked around herself and looked up at the crowd.

“Drat!” she shouted and ran in the direction of where the man disappeared.

Yin ran through the crowd. She spotted the man as he turned to look over his shoulder. His eyes widened and he turned to run. Yin gripped ahold of her glaive and threw it. The weapon sailed past the man and he stopped in horror. He turned and raised his hands in surrender.

“Hey, look, I’m sorry okay! Sorry!” he whimpered.

Yin punched the man in the face. As he was sprawled on the ground. She searched him for her pouch of money. When she found it she stomped on the man’s stomach.

He moaned, “What the heck is your problem lady!?”

“Be lucky I didn’t gut you,” Yin muttered as she retrieved her glaive. She walked away back to the vender.