The Hunters Volume One: The Beginning
The Hunters Volume One: The Beginning
Author: Tony Hallows
Chapter One
Author: Tony Hallows
last update2022-09-18 23:17:55

Nightfall meant a lot of things to a lot of people, each differing in their own understanding. For the working class, it meant hours of rest and reprieve after slaving the entire day away behind a desk or workbench. The lowlifes saw it differently. For them, it was the time to be alive and indulge themselves in the numerous bars and night clubs spread out all over Starlight Bay.

The night had other duties too. It provided a suitable ambiance for nocturnal creatures to go about their businesses unhindered. But most importantly, it concealed the existence of another world from the unsuspecting eyes of the people. An entirely different system that went beyond the borders of the natural and defied all logic by its very existence. The importance of the secrecy of this world was so high that it was agreed upon by every faction that constituted it, despite the fact that most of them did not quite get along.

For one member of this world, tonight was rather special. He had been chosen by the leader of his association to retrieve a fitting sacrifice for the night's event. New members were to be admitted tonight and that required them to take a blood oath. Naturally this would require blood, hence why he was carrying a large body bag over his shoulder as he trudged down a nearly empty street. When he had received the command to obtain a person whose blood was to be used for the ritual, he had jumped into it with gusto. This was not his first time of pulling a stunt like this over the years. But he had never been caught before, reason being his rather meticulous method of picking out his prey.

Starlight Bay was a bit populated due to its proximity to the nearby sea and the presence of beaches and resorts never failed to pull in people constantly. This reflected in the economy of the city, resulting in portions of the city being quite developed while leaving some areas little better than slums. It was from here that he normally picked his prey, where no one would bother about the sudden disappearance of an individual.

The body on his shoulder shuddered lightly in the bag as he went down a dark alley. She was still alive but he had made sure she wouldn't wake up any time soon with the amount of tranquilizers he had pumped into her bloodstream. This one had been a pretty easy catch, he had found her the next day after he had been given his mission. After a few days of following her around, he had discovered she had no family or at least none that lived nearby. That meant no one would look into her disappearance. So he had cornered her earlier and neutralized her easily before bagging her. He was quite thankful she had not put up much of a struggle thus he had not been forced to get violent. The ritual required the sacrifice to be alive after all. It was a shame that it also required her to be undefiled. She was quite the looker and he would have loved to have his way with her a few times before delivering her to her death.

Unfortunately, duty came first.

The thought of the promotion he would receive after tonight's ceremony brought a smile on his face and made him hurry his steps until he got to the brick wall that marked the end of the alley. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a flat stone that had something, a rune inscribed onto it. He placed it on the wall and watched the magic in the stone resonate with the magic in the wall, fascination evident in his eyes. He would never get over the awe that came with witnessing actual magic happen. The surface of the wall glowed a dim blue before rippling like disturbed water, allowing him to sink through it. Once he was in, it quickly regained its solidity.

There had been nothing behind the wall but he had appeared in a large hall designed like something straight out of a horror movie. This was Reality Displacement magic, an extremely rare kind of magic which was highly sought after in their world. It allowed the caster to overlap the reality of a mass or space with their own reality. One of their members had this ability and because of it, he had risen quickly through the ranks despite being relatively new.

Inside the hall, no less than three dozen people stood in rows in front of an altar raised high on a platform. Atop the altar, there were several black candles lit at the corners with a silver bowl in the middle and an ornate silver knife beside it.

A silver haired man stood before the altar, dressed in black robes just like every one else but his was far more exotic, making it quite obvious that he was the leader of the association. A little ways to the side of the altar, a young man stood erect in robes which while not as tasteful as the leader's, was enough to distinguish his higher standing above others. He was the one who had cast the Reality Displacement magic and when he felt two presences enter his domain with a 'key', he made a signal to his leader.

The latter turned around and his eyes brightened when he saw his most loyal follower bring in the sacrifice.

"You have done well, Gerald. Your devotedness will be rewarded in full tonight. But first let us welcome our new brothers into our fold."

Gerald bowed lowly at the waist and handed over the body bag to another member before moving to one corner of the hall. There, two other members removed his jacket and clothed him with a black robe similar to the one with by the Reality Displacement magic user. Then the three of them proceeded to join the others with Gerald moving to stand on the other side of the altar. The member who had taken the body bag had removed the covering and carried the girl to the foot of the altar. Bending a knee in subservience, he offered her up to his leader who then placed her on the altar.

Turning back to face his followers, the cult leader proclaimed in a high voice, "Brothers and sisters of the Dark Fellowship! We are gathered here to witness the indoctrination of or new members! They have agreed to follow our laws and perform all tasks given to them, to live their lives in servitude to our unholy master! And now it is time to seal their oath with blood and empower them with the life force of an innocent!"

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  • Chapter Seventy Three

    The ringing of a bell brought Whitney back to reality as her last class for the day ended. Pulling her upper body off her desk, she carefully concealed a yawn that threatened to escape either way behind the open notebook before her. Half the class had already disappeared within the first minute after the bell had rung and the other half were well on their way to join their peers. Looking around, Whitney felt a guilty pleasure in the fact that she had not been the only one who had slept throughout the entire class. Her disguised eyes spotted Mia's hunched over form still snoozing away at her desk. A fond smile, a rare thing for her to show, spread across Whitney's lips as she watched the sleeping girl. She had been mostly unconscious by the time Dean and Mia had arrived to her aid the night before but she had been filled in on what had happened after. To the surprise of everyone, herself included, Whitney had genuinely thanked the Hunters for their assistance in her rescue. Thoug

  • Chapter Seventy Two

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  • Chapter Seventy One

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  • Chapter Seventy

    Under the nonstop pressure the black sphere was emitting, the walls of the cavern were forced to give. Fortunately the cavern had been located just below the surface of the mountain, which meant that there was not much thickness to the earth on one side of the hollow formation. Within seconds, the cavern exploded outwards under the pressure. From an outside view, it looked like a mine charge had detonated from within the mountain. The quake from the explosion shook the entire mountain slightly since the whole structure itself was fairly small. Dislodged debris in the form of large rocks and landslides wrecked some parts of the forest below. In the middle of the newly formed 'cave', an inhumanly large figure pushed itself off the ground to stand on its two feet. Standing at over twenty feet, the creature towered over most land animals. The moonlight fell on its body and illuminated its bizarre appearance. Finally able to dig himself out of the rubble, Michael received the u

  • Chapter Sixty Nine

    A chimera. He turned himself into a freaking chimera?! 'Don't be so quick to conclude. We still don't know if he breathes fire–' Michael spotted a dim orange glow at the back of its throat that was rapidly growing in intensity. 'You know what? Never mind. Do try and dodge that.' "Yeah no kidding!" Still he agreed with his predecessor's soul. Michael forced himself out of his shock to leap out of the way as a stream of fire engulfed the area he had been standing on seconds ago. Unfortunately dodging did not mean it had forgotten Michael. The chimera used the continuous stream of flames to chase the Hunter across half the cavern before it ceased its attempts to incinerate him. "If it keeps this up, I might not be able to keep my promise to Daniel." Black smoke rose from the ground to surround Michael's body. After a few seconds, it dissipated revealing a massive humanoid wolf-like creature that howled loudly. The chimera roared in reply and both beasts lunged

  • Chapter Sixty Eight

    When faced with imminent threat, the automatic response of every sentient creature would be either flight or fight. This was a reaction that could not be overcome without the presence of an extreme amount of self control. Even a weak rat would struggle to mount a resistance against the hungry cat that sought its demise, hence the phrase. But in the occasion that the opponent, the predator was so far above the prey on the food chain that any form of resistance would be futile, what then? The skinwalkers chose to fight. Bad choice. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted another approaching from what might have looked like his blind spot. His right hand snapped backwards and grabbed the skinwalker's head in a vice-like grip. A second later, the body collapsed, its center of control gone with the wind. Two more dashed forward, dark magic swirling around their hands. Their blasts vanished an inch before his skin to their immense dismay. Before they could retreat, he swi

  • Chapter Sixty Seven

    "For a place that's supposed to be of immense importance, there is very little security around here." "Don't jinx it Caen." "I'm just saying. It's way too quiet here." The way both Aiden and Veronica turned to glare at him made it very clear that they had long noticed that fact and had chosen not to acknowledge it for a reason. No one knew exactly how this sort of flags worked in movies, but they were not exactly keen to find out. They were vampires. Immortal yes, but certainly not invulnerable. The walk up the mountain had been largely uneventful. Whether that was good or bad, none of them could say. While they were definitely glad for the hitch free journey, the boredom still made it annoying. Vampires were not exactly the most docile of creatures, especially at night. There was no doubt the others had engaged in some sort of battle at some point. It had been impossible to ignore the dramatic spike in energy that had resonated throughout that side of the mountain. Eve

  • Chapter Sixty Six

    Àtahsaia was confused. First the Hunter had been barely able to match its strength. Then he unleashed this terrifying power that nearly killed it with a single strike. After that he had become weaker for sometime. But now here he was easily being able to keep up with itself even with the boost that witch's soul had granted it. Just what was this individual planning? Dean deflected a swipe of the demon's large hand and landed three slashes on its arm, shoulder and face in quick succession. With each hit he had increased his power but it had still not been enough to pierce the demon's tough hide. Although he had felt a slight depression in its skin on that last strike. 'It shouldn't take much now.' He leapt back to avoid the raging stream of flame it spat out in return. When the breath of fire ended, he was gone. But Àtahsaia knew better than to assume he would retreat so easily. A lance of flames formed within its have and it swung backwards to block the curved blade of shadow

  • Chapter Sixty Five

    As its wounds healed, Àtahsaia forced itself to to stand once more. It was still unsure as to what had happened to cause the situation to devolve to this. The battle had been under its control, it had finally caught the Hunter in an unavoidable attack. Next thing it knew, it was sent flying away with a giant wound on its body. It had sensed the cursed energy lingering around the area of the slash. That was supposed to have been a fatal blow and it nearly had. But the Hunter had done something. He had been the one to prevent death from consuming it. It was this that confused the demon as it was fairly certain that this individual had come here with the purpose of exterminating it. Let it be known that the strength of the demon known as Àtahsaia did not lie in its not so inconsiderable power, but in its wit and intelligence. Something had caused the Hunter to pull back his attack at the last second. And as far as it knew, there was only one other third party involved in all this.

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