Of Hunters and Shadows

Authors Note: Do not expect updates to be this frequent. I write on paper, then type it up, then post. I always have two more chapters written then are online, so that, if I get writers block, I can update something, but generally I will be doing about one chapter a week. However, I thought, to get the interest of the people, I'd post the first few chapters closer together.

memorietrail - thanks for the review, and yes, there will be much much more. ^_^

Part Three


I was moving the second I realized I was in potential danger, that something was out there that had not been present mere minutes before. I didn't trust myself against an unknown opponent on open ground, so I didn't bother moving out towards the houses. I could out run most things I have encountered in life, but a good sense of modesty does a body good and my luck could very well run out at any time. The thing was to my right, though, and I could easily enough go into the trees on my left and hop eI was the only one of us able to climb.

I got almost two full steps away from the over grown bench when 'It' burst from the foliage at me, a block of darkness congealing into a single form at last, the keening howl echoing out once more. I didn't bother looking back at it for details, I kept running the last meter towards the tree line and jumped. This may seem cowardly to some, but I'd rather not face down strange enemies unprepared, not when I had other options. With a verticle leap of a good ten feet standing still, I was damn well getting off the ground before I even thought about looking back.

I hit the closest tree more then halfway up, snagging a branch and swinging myself onto it. Once secure on my perch, I took a moment to glance down.

It looked a remarkable amount like a Pit bull and Whippet dog hybrid, if it had been emaciated and grown massive talons, rows of razor sharp teeth in gaping jaws, and been blown up to the size of a large wolf or small skinny bear. It had solid red eyes that glowed in contrast to a body made of shadow. I had never seen anything like it, and I wanted nothing more then for it to go right back to where it came from.

The beast reached the tree before I finished examining it, looking back up at me with its wild red eyes and teeth bared in a silent snarl. It paced in front of the tree-an oak, I noted almost absently-for a minute, then stopped beneath my branch. Slowly, it lifted its forepaws from the ground and dug its long, curled claws into the trunk with an audible thunk. If I was religious, I'd have crossed myself and prayed, as it was, I just hoped to be lucky.

The shadow dog gave me another quiet snarl, and expression I was starting to label as a smug grin, and propelled itself a good six feet up the tree, all four sets of claws digging in to hold on. Two good lunges and it would be level with me. I chanced a glance away from my pursuer, spotted a thinner tree, and lept out for a high, slim branch near the top. The branch dipped, but held, and I grinned across the space I'd gained at the shadow dog.

The was no way something that big could climb as high as me on the tree. The only reason the limb I was squatting on wasn't snapping with my weight was because I didn't actually weigh as much as a man of my build should. An average six and a half foot man should be anywhere between 170 and 190 pounds, unless he was a body builder. I last weighted in at 105, and that was after a feeding. Why such a difference? Two reasons-I don't have pesky things like a digestive track to burden myself with, and I have hallow bones. Well, my arm and leg bones, at least. Like all Groudling's, my chest is a solid plate, not ribbed, but Hunters have a unique advantage of having hallowed out our limbs of the recent centuries.

Big bad Shadowdog looked solid enough now, I was fairly certain I was safe. Of course, if my new friend decided to wait until I came down, I would be in trouble. If I was stuck up a tree until dawn, the beast would be the least of my worries, and I couldn't reach the van without crossing a long stretch of open ground.

I had a sudden urge to call out for Darryl or Borin. Where the fuck were my Guards? It was their job to keep this kind of thing from happening to me. The Shadowdog jumped free from his tree, and stalked over to my new post, effectively silencing my thoughts with mild fear. He circled around the base slowly, as if looking for something, arriving back on my side and staring up with a clearly displeased look. I resisted the urge to laugh.

A high pitched yowl, similar to the earlier call, pierced the air and captured my antagonists attention. Its ears swiveled around and it took up a classic pointer position. The new noise came a second time, and the beast was off like a bullet, slipping silently though the underbrush with a nimble speed that made me glad I had taken a cowards route. I wouldn't have out raced him in the park.

I listened to the night around me, mind focused on trying to pick up any sign of the thing returning, heart racing in a way that made me envy storybook vampires who didn't need such mundane things as heartbeats and breathing. I could hold my breath all day, yes, and my idea of a racing heart is slower then a humans resting rate, but that is neither here nor there. I was scared out of my mind, and that was all that I cared about.

I sat in the tree for a good five minutes, calming down as much as I could, getting tired and thirsty as the adrenaline of the chase wore off and left me drained. I had been in fights with other paranormals before, but I had always known what I was getting into before hand. I had no clue what my attacker even was, and it had been far more sudden then previous situations. I was debating climbing down or simply pulling a Tarzan act and tree hopping back towards the van, when the screaming started.

I bit my lip and held my position for all of a second, then made a decision. As quickly as I could, without being overtly noisy, I started jumping through the trees towards the commotion. The sounds died out before I got reached the source, even at the rate of speed I moved, but I found what I was after easily enough.

One such as myself finds it hard to miss the scent of blood, even several meters off the ground and stressed out.

I choose the better side of valor and didn't leave the tree tops, just stayed up high and looked down on the ground. I saw Darryl's face before anything else, pulled up in an expression of anger and surprise. It took me a bit longer to spot the rest of him, mostly due to the fact that his head was a good 12 feet away from his body. Or what remained of it.

One arm was completely gone, and the other wasn't where it should be. I could see flashes of bone under his shredded clothes and skin of his chest, and I gave up on figuring out his legs after a handful of seconds. I never liked Darryl much. He was self centered, cocky, and not exactly pretty to look at. I wouldn't have wanted to see him torn to pieces though-I was pretty sure he didn't deserved it.

Borin didn't either, where ever he was. I doubted anything capable of tearing Darryl apart would have any trouble doing worse to me, but I might be able to give Borin a heads up. If, that is, I could find him before the beast(beasts?) did.

I cut through the woods towards the groves edge, hoping Borin would be patrolling the outside of it. I never bothered asking them how they went about their jobs when securing a Hunting ground, just let them do their thing while I did mine. It made sense though, that if one was inside the trees, the other would be outside of them.

I came to the edge nearest the road where the van was parked. I did a quick once over of the open space around me, dotted with a few jungle gym pieces, before looking out towards the vehicle itself. Even with the distance between me and it, I could make out the fact that the left front door was open and could see a dark smear rubbed into the off white paint of the van's side. Something had happened here as well, though whatever it was it appeared over.

There was no actual sign of the Shadowdog, no sign of anything. The unnartual silence that had fallen was still there, but I hadn't heard any howling or shouting in several to long minutes. Which left me back with my two original choices-stay where I was, or jump down and check out the van.

I waited another half a minute, then decided with a nod to myself, dropping easily out of the tree line and into open ground. I was almost expecting to get jumped by something the moment I touched down, but when nothing happened I quickly started across the park.

The smear was, as I had guessed, blood. A darker shade then human and already drying up, it had probably come from Darryl or Borin. The smell of gun smoke and more blood came from the open front door of the vehicle and I eyed it warily. A booted foot was sticking out of the open space, and I approached slowly, images of Darryl's torn up torso in my mind.

The foot belonged to Borin and was thankfully still attached to the rest of him. He was unconscious and injured, but I could make out the sound of his heart dimly beating. He held a gun in his right hand, a semi-automatic I vaguely recalled seeing in the front of the van once, his other hand on his chest covering a wound that was bleeding steadily over his fingers.

As I stated before, I'm no doctor. I've had a few bumps and bruises in my time, seen things I don't want to recall readily, but medical treatment is beyond my skill set. There wasn't anything I could do for Borin on my own, but I wasn't leaving him there with the Shadowdog possibly still around. I might be a coward, but I am a loyal one.

Turning to keep my back to the van and my eyes on the park, I dug a cell phone out of my jeans. Flipping it open, I dialed a number I always hated using but knew by heart. I held the phone up to my ear to wait for an answer and was reward in a matter of seconds. I nearly got a second set of chills when a crisp, dark voice came down then line.

“Authorities, state the emergency.”

Swallowing, eyes still scanning my surroundings, I started to reply.