The Hunter || clifford

.one.

.one. 

He was back in the town where he had spent the majority of his time after his mother died. London. The place was crawling with shifters, thousands of them, from all over the world. It was their favorite gathering place.

And tonight, Michael wasn't feeling particularly merciful.

In fact, he was angry. Angry at the boss for having told him the truth so late. If he had spoken up sooner, Michael would have spared himself the heart break and the inner loathing. More than that, he was disgusted with himself.

How had he allowed himself to fall in love with Harley Quinn?

And how had he been so blind? How did he completely miss the fact that they were siblings? Only half-siblings, but siblings nontheless.

Now he was left to run away to London to forget about her. But every detail about her was still fresh in his mind. The kiss they shared, the way her lips felt against his, the softness of her skin. The mere thought shot him through the clouds, only to bring him crashing back down. That was when he would scold himself for thinking that way about his sister.

Billy didn't think of her that way.

Then again, the circumstances had been different. Billy grew up with Harley and always knew they were related. But not Michael. Michael was introduced into the Quinn family without ever knowing she shared the same blood as him. Had he known from the very beginning; had the boss--Arthur, his father--told him, none of this would have happened and he could have stayed in Sydney with a family who truly cared about him.

"Another reason to hate shifters." He said bitterly to himself.

These were the thoughts that ate at him as he walked the dark streets of London past midnight, it was when the cockroaches seemed to gather.

After dark.

"Fancy seeing you in my turf, Clifford." A female voice said through the darkness, a smirk evident in her tone.

Michael looked around, searching for the face he knew well. There was an open alleyway and he went towards it, knowing she'd be hiding from him. "I was killing shifters here long before you even became a hunter, Dempsey."

"How did you know it was me?" She walked out from the alley, coming into view under the dim street lights. Dempsey was a sixteen year old girl with long brown hair. She was quite small with a petite frame, but she was deadly, which was probably why the boss hired her. And for one second he wondered if she was his daughter too. Then he remembered Dempsey actually had parents and they were still alive, but she hadn't seen them in a long time.

"Your voice is unmistakeable." He smiled slightly. Correcting himself, he added, "Unmistakeably annoying."

"You're unmistakeably annoying." She argued back.

"Nice comeback." Michael chuckled. "Though you know, I met a more annoying bitch when I was on assignment in Sydney." He told her, matter-of-factly as he remembered Andrea and her mean comments.

"Should I take that as a compliment?" The girl laughed.

"Definitely." He nodded. Running a hand through his hair, he told her, "I have news for you from the boss."

She groaned. "Am I getting reassigned again? Tell him I'm not going to another country that doesn't speak English. Before he assigned me to London, I was with Paul in Mexico and I couldn't communicate with anyone. The only thing I knew how to say was; Can I have a taco? or I'm lost and I don't speak Spanish, can you help me?" 

"Well you're in luck." Michael told her. "Cause you're going to Australia."

"Australia?" Her face contorted in confusion.

He nodded, "You're not hunting anymore. You're babysitting Harley."

"Who?" She wondered.

"She's the boss' daughter so you'd better not complain and do your job." He sighed.

"I didn't know he had a daughter." Dempsey said, surprised.

"Neither did I." Michael admitted, adding, "He also has a son." Though he left out a detail; the fact that he was Arthur's son. Pulling a silver square device out of his pocket, he opened it up and it was like a tiny computer. He clicked on the screen and the blurry picture of a young woman came up on the screen. "Getting back to business...do you know where I can find this girl?"

When her eyes saw the barely visible picture on the screen, she scoffed. "I don't know her name. No one does. But she's very elusive; they call her the White Rabbit."

"I've been assigned to find her and kill her, since you couldn't do the job." Michael told her.

"Its not my fault, okay?" Dempsey complained. "She's sneaky. You'll never find her. And if you do, she'll trick you into letting her go. She's a cunning bitch. She sometimes hangs out in the nest. I think I remember where it is." The dark haired girl informed him. 

He pulled a compass out of his pocket which tracked down the direction where a shifter was by sensing their aura. "I have this." He gestured to the object in his hand.

"Pfft." She scoffed. "You don't need that."

She took it from him and slipped it into her pocket. Shrugging, he finally said, "Fine. Lead the way."

-

yay.

chapter one.

this one was actually way longer, like double the length of this. but i split it in half cause of how long it was and i didn't want so many things to happen in the very first chapter.

so here is Dempsey, finally brought into the picture.

and then we have little Michael back in London after being in Sydney for a while.

so the next chapter will be up soon. i hope you like it ^.^

thank you for reading and supporting.

i love youuuu.

-clary xx