Miss Otome [Volume 1]

Chapter One: All In A Day's Work

"Dawn is almost upon us and we haven't even met our quota!" I heard fellow Battle Angel, Kanna Mizushima cry out. Haruna just rolled her eyes as I slid my sword's blade out of the chest of a nightmare. I stood there silently, I didn't even bother to wipe the blood off of the weapon as I knew it would get bloodied yet again very soon. Turning towards my teammates, I began to wonder why I even agreed to being a part of a group.

"Haruna!" Kanna whined out as she finally noticed the glare Haruna was now sending her. I let out a soft, barely audible sigh before placing my hand on Sayumi, our team's leader's, shoulder. She turned around to face me with an annoyed look on her face.

"I'm going to hunt by myself tonight," I muttered to her emotionlessly as I held eye contact with her. Sayumi simply looked over at the two bickering girls before nodding slightly in response to me and my statement.

"Just be care, Otome," Sayumi said as she turned to go deal with Haruna and Kannacs arguing and I moved away to go hunt down another nightmare for me to slay. I dashed through town on top of the buildings, the soft moonlight illuminating my bright white hair as I ran. As I felt the energy of yet another nightmare, I jumped down and landed softly and quietly behind the monster. It was eating the body of a dead young man and my stomach felt like it was going to puke up everything I ate before I went out hunting. Which, truthfully wasn't a whole lot, and yet I was about to throw it all back up. I had to force the feeling down as I had a job to do and I wasn't about to get killed because I was feeling sick.

So, I unsheathed my sword and swung the silver blade at the neck of the nightmare, successfully slicing off it's head. This nightmarecs wolf-like head rolled onto the ground as the body fell. I knew I had killed it as nothing can survive without it's head attached. That's when I sensed a stronger nightmare's energy nearby and I lept up and rushed towards it. I knew that I had a quota to fill and that I only had a short period of time to completely fill it. As I ran through the streets towards my next prey, I heard a loud, bloodcurdling woman's scream and I knew that the nightmare either attacked her or tried to possess her body. So, I gripped my sword as I reached the beast and it's newest victim. This nightmare had taken the form of a large cat, probably a black panther, and was clawing the chest of the woman I had heard scream just minutes earlier. Luckily, the night was covering the wound, but I could still see the deep red blood that pooled underneath the woman as she laid there.