Hunters and Monsters

2- Watching

1025 words

TW: brief mentions of trauma, implied eating disorder, cursing

Edited  on 4/20/22

Turns out, Thomas truly did have everything under control. The ghost ended up passing on with his help, and the shifter disappeared into the night. Roman didn't approve of Thomas letting it go away alive, but it was Thomas's territory, he was the one who made the rules here, not Roman.

Thomas and his partner, Joan, invited the two other hunters for some late night tea and coffee at Thomas's house. Roman and Patton of course accepted.

"So, what brings the great hunters Roman and Patton to my humble town?" Thomas asked a few minutes later, pouring steaming water into everyone's cups.

"We heard rumors of both ghoul and vampire infestations in Florida, so we came to check it out. But it seems you guys are all set," Roman replied, leaning back in his seat. Patton didn't look up from his cup of tea, looking slightly sad, which was quit odd for the usually happy hunter. 

"There are quite a few ghouls out lately, but I haven't heard anything of vampires until those two mentioned they were meeting a pair tonight," Joan mused. 

"Joan's one of our night hunters, since he's got really good night vision and stuff. He specializes in the nocturnal unnaturals." Thomas praised. "One of the best in our area, I'd say."

"So, about that ghost..." Roman started. Patton stood up suddenly, the legs of his chair scraping against the wood floor and making everyone wince.

"Patton?" Roman asked.

"I- I'm fine. Just going to go and talk a walk. I need to air." Patton replied, giving Roman an obviously forced smile.

"Okay... just be careful, alright?"

"I will. Thank you for the hospitality," Patton told Thomas, before disappearing out the door into the night.

The two figures stepped silently through the tall grass. They were both cloaked, their faces  hidden by the shadows of their deep hoods. The taller of the two had a dark blue cloak on, with a silver clasp, while the smaller one's was plain black with a normal aluminum clasp. It was clear the taller one was higher class than his accomplice.  

"Are you sure we got the place right? There's no one here." The smaller of the two asked quietly.

"Yes, I see that, Virgil. I am positive that this was the deemed meeting place." The taller one replied, sounding annoyed.

"You think she got other help? Or what if they got attacked! Or this is a trap, and she never needed our help! This is a trap, isn't it?"

"Virgil, I need you to calm yourself. There is no one here, just like you said. This can't be a trap, because there's  no one waiting to ambush us. That ghost girl likely got other help. We did take a while to arrive. And a shifter like George wouldn't just leave unless it was sorted out."

"Shifters are tricky, though. And we only got here late because the stupid ghouls tried adopting us again! Logan, didn't that leader ghoul seem off to you?" Virgil asked. "He didn't seem as ghoul-y as the others."

"There was something different from him than the others. But the ghouls society has always been a strange one. Though I will admit I've never seen such a docile group of ghouls. Usually they would be upset that two vampires were in their territory."

"Better ghouls than werewolves, I guess. We'd be dead if we ran into a pack."

"It's not the full moon, we didn't even have a chance of running into a pack at this time, Virgil. They're all asleep in their human forms by now. And yes, we did get lucky. Maybe that particular group was already done hunting."

"Speaking of hunting..." Virgil added, his stomach grumbling. 

Logan sighed, stopping to turn to his younger friend. "Virgil, when was the last time you ate?"

"About two and a half months, I'd guess."

"Virgil!" Logan exclaimed. "You can't go more than a month without eating! You know this! It's unhealthy!"

"But I feel bad!" Virgil argued back. "I can barely feed from our friends back home, and they offer it willingly! I can't just attack a stranger and drink their blood!"

Logan sighed again, this time in exasperation. "Then find an animal at the least! You can't starve yourself because you don't want to hurt others! You've been doing this for two hundred years, I thought you'd have gotten used to it by now."

"Oh, well I didn't ask to be a vampire, Logan! Stuck in the same body, never aging. Living off other beings! Yeah, it's been two hundred years. Two hundred years where I wake up in cold sweat because I can't get the past out of my head! You were born into this life, but I wasn't, okay? So just leave me the fuck alone."

Virgil turned on his heel, and began storming away. Logan took one step after him before stopping. He didn't miss the trail of violet sparks following his friend. Virgil was known for his super powerful magic, but he didn't always have the best control over it. It was best to let him cool off before confronting him again. But Logan would made sure he ate something.

Logan huffed, before looking around once more. The dawn was breaking already. Logan and Virgil were both day walkers, so this didn't matter too much, but the sun also meant humans were waking up for work or school. And humans also meant hunters.

Logan felt his body shrinking on his command, folding into itself. His arms became wings, his legs shrunk and grew talons. And just like that, he was a bat. He shook off his head before flying away in the vague direction Virgil had stormed away in.

Little did he know, they hadn't been alone during that argument. Thy were so worked up they didn't notice the change in the air, as a human silently watched them. The hunter watched as the bat fluttered away, then slipped into the shadows. He'd never known the life of a vampire was so taxing. Despite his reputation as a hunter, he hoped the two would be okay. He was honestly glad they both left before Roman came outside to look for them.