Sinnamon

To Oregon, Eventually

Three days later

Sindra's client, a man named Simon McAllister, stood over his desk while examining the proof from the kill. Sindra and Koda sat in front of him at his desk, while the busy Mesquite highway noisily flew by in the massive window behind him.

Simon was a powerful businessman that owned two other businesses, and his own headquarters were here in Mesquite, Nevada. McAllister Corporation looked like an ordinary booming accounting business to the mundane eye, but HASP secretly funded the company; the Hunters Against Supernaturals and Preternaturals underground extermination agency. It was the reason why Simon had so much money, and how he was able to expand his business and own two others. It was the agency that Sindra and Koda were apart of, and clients like Simon often reached out to this agency to contact hunters to find and kill certain creatures for them. All in return for very large paychecks.

Back to the present, Simon had finished looking over the half of the werewolf's ear and chain necklace, then put the items into his suit pocket. He then straightened his tie and cleared his throat as he took his seat in front of Sindra and Koda again. "Well well well, Sinnamon. It appears you have outdone yourself again. Another outstanding hunt that has led you straight to an outstanding reward." Simon opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out an envelope that was practically bulging with cash, and slid it across the desk to her. She slapped her hand on top of it and put it in her lap, as if anyone would have the right mind to take it away from her anyway. Koda almost laughed at that, but had the bright idea to keep a straight face.

    Simon then fished out a printed image of the werewolf, in human form, and slid it over to Sindra. The man shown in the picture was wearing a black tank top with an unbuttoned white shirt over it, the chain necklace, and black sweatpants with flip-flops. "This was my quarry as a human, of course. Before you leave, I just want to tell you why I wanted him dead in the first place. You see, this man was known as Horace Meyers, and he attempted to steal my business away from me. How? He threw himself in front of my car one day after work, and staged it as if I had hit him. Then we took the idiotic matter to court and unfortunately, Mr. Horace had won the case. I don't know how everyone believed him, but it doesn't matter anymore I suppose. I had lost so much money by paying Meyers back for his false accusations, as an 'apology', and I grew enraged for weeks after that of course because I couldn't figure out what to do.

"Then, after gaining a great sum of money from this ordeal, he used that money to try to buy my business away from me. It was a brilliant plan for him, falsely accusing me in court and getting paid immensely for it, but he was too greedy to stop there. And then I found out he was a werewolf... I had already known of their existence, and as soon as I saw his claws slipping out in my office one day, I contacted HASP and requested a list of their best hunters to find this man and kill him for me. And that's where you came in, Ms. Watts. It's not surprising that Horace Meyers had traveled across states to Florida so quickly, but you found him even faster. And here we are now."

    As intrigued as Sindra was by the backstory of this operation, she couldn't stop thinking about hunting that one beast. Her assassin that had tried to kill her when she was only fourteen, and the real reason that she was hunting werewolves. She slowly stood up from her chair, and Koda followed suit. "Yes sir, I am more than happy to continue helping you in the future if you happen to find any other werewolves..."

"Actually, yes," Simon said, also standing up from his chair. "There is this one creature, I think it's a supernatural essence, and it's been roaming the streets here at night. I'm not sure if it's behind the sewer killings that have occurred just a month ago, but it is very likely."

    "...I only specialize in werewolf hunting."

Koda cleared his throat next to her. "Yes, but maybe we can refer you to one of our hunters in the supernatural department of our agency?"

    Simon nodded quickly, reaching to straighten his tie once again. "Okay, I suppose so. I sense you two have a busy schedule ahead of you as of right now, so I won't keep you. Thank you again, Sinnamon."

It was odd hearing her hunting name leaving the businessman's mouth, but Sindra merely shrugged it off and led the way out of the office with Koda right behind her. "Have a nice day, sir," he said before closing the door behind them. Then he faced Sindra in the hallway, his slightly muscled arms folded across his chest. "So, are we headed out to Oregon now? Get the upper hand on this werewolf before it suspects us?"

    Sindra nodded once. "Yeah, we need to get there as soon as possible. Let's leave for the airport right now, and it shouldn't take too long to fly there from here."

Then they left McAllister Corporation behind them as they drove into the sunset.

——————

On the plane, Sindra found herself daydreaming.

    She thought back to one of the very first encounters she had had with Koda, and what he had thought of her hunting alias.

"Sinnamon? Why Sinnamon? I mean I'm not trying to be judgmental or anything, but wow, that's a unique nickname for sure." He was chuckling, playfully mocking her.

"What? It was the only one I could think of at the top of my head, and I don't exactly have a lot of time to think of anything else. I care more about ending the existence of werewolves and finding that one bastard that had failed to kill me six years ago."

Koda was staring at her in awe. "Damn. That's the most metal thing I've ever heard, and also pretty badass."

They laughed together after that, not flirting, but just sharing a moment together as newfound hunting friends that would soon travel the world to hunt werewolves together.

    Sindra was jolted out of her memories as Koda nudged her, then she looked up to see the flight attendant looming over her. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you would like some water or any snacks," said the woman, who had a pearly white smile.

    "No thanks."

The flight attendant nodded and moved to the next aisle, and Sindra was able to relax again. So far they had been flying for an hour, and they had three more to go since they would be landing in Portland. For the first leg of the trip, she had been daydreaming a lot more than usual, probably because she couldn't entertain herself by sharpening her blades in a situation like this. Koda had brought some magical charms with him to Florida as he met Sindra, and thankfully they had come in handy because they were currently being used to conceal all of her weapons. If the bags were scanned, then they would show up on the screens as clothing instead of knives and blades of all sizes. And a couple of handguns with silver bullets too.

Luckily the rest of the trip went by as fast as it could, and the plane landed at the Portland International Airport around ten fifteen. The airport was lit up brightly in the night, looking like a welcoming beacon for passengers foreign and local alike. Sindra and Koda eventually got out and they grabbed Sindra's two bags from the baggage claim area, then quickly left the crowded airport.

Once they were outside, they went straight to business. "Okay, how can we track this thing? I need to make sure that it's the werewolf as well," Sindra was murmuring to Koda. People were still flitting around them because they were at the valet area, and apparently Koda couldn't answer her question at the moment because he was calling an Uber. So she waited impatiently as he wrapped up the call and then gave her his full attention. "Sorry, I had to find some way to get us out of here. You were saying?"

    "Yes, where the hell is the werewolf and how can we track it?"

"I've still got some charms right here." Koda held up a handful of beaded necklaces that had little symbols engraved in each bead. "These are reusable charms, so we can use them whenever we want, unlimited."

    He looked proud of them, so Sindra decided to cut him some slack before she could get impatient again. "Great. So let's track it." It meant a lot to her that they find this beast so Sindra could give it a long and lasting death. It was almost too good to be true that they had found the werewolf.

"I've got this." Koda stuffed a bunch of his charms into his pocket until he was only holding one, a light blue beaded necklace with 'x' symbols engraved into each one. He put it around his neck and closed his eyes, deeply concentrating. Then he opened his eyes a moment later and grinned.

    "Found it."