Destined For Doom

Chapter 9 - The Impossible

-9-

-The Impossible-

Jamie looked over the burnt corpse, studying the scene carefully. It was pinned to the wall with a pair of black arrows, created with magic and fading by the minute.

"Our target?" he asked, looking over to Jun and Moriko.

"Yes," Jun nodded, "Those are his arrows. But why was he going after... Whatever this was?"

"That's a Siren," Moriko stepped in, "The end of the tail has been cut off, but the claws and teeth are enough to give away its species. What one's doing in Japan though is beyond me."

"Monsters getting their international passports?" Jamie raised an eyebrow, "Lovely. The real question is, why was the target going after it? It seems strange that he'd go out of his way to butcher one particular Siren who shouldn't even be here."

"He might have been interrogating it," Moriko suggested, "It would explain the burning."

"But not the target." Jun dismissed, "Why attack a Siren? He's coming for Koyane; a Siren wouldn't know anything of value."

Moriko looked around the tunnel, "Maybe he has other targets. His ally, the witch, might have set this up."

"You know what?" Jamie smiled, clapping his hand to his forehead, "Maybe he's just taken up monster hunting as a hobby. You'd better be careful Moriko, he could put you out of business if this keeps up."

Both of his companions just stared flatly.

"Not funny Jamie," Moriko muttered as she brushed past him, moving deeper into the tunnel.

"What?" he called after her, "He doesn't seem like the type to take up crochet; just saying."

"Still not funny."

He smiled, looking down at the rusting catwalk briefly. Blood splattered the metal in a distinct pattern, one he had learned to recognise during his years of work.

"Someone was limping over here," he called, "They must have injured their foot in the struggle."

"There's something over here too!" Moriko yelled from somewhere in the darkness, "A broken spotlight. Unless he was carrying it while fighting, the target didn't come alone."

Jamie frowned. "A witch could make her own light, so it must have been Koyane's granddaughter."

Jun's patience ran out. "We can discuss possibilities for hours, but they will not give us answers."

"Well we haven't got much else to go on, so if you have a better idea, be my guest." Jamie rolled his eyes.

A low tone sounded from Jun's phone, interrupting the argument. As he read the message a satisfied smile crossed his face. "We just got something better. Two minutes ago a traffic camera caught a green Lotus speeding south along the Shuto Expressway into Tokyo. They got a view the driver on camera, and it's a match for the witch. We need to move quickly."

>---<

Madeline shivered in the back seat, tuning out most of the argument Akane and Abigail were having. She has found a thick blanket in the trunk of the car, and wrapped herself in it to try and warm up. Akane had tried to help applying some first aid to her leg before they got in the car, but his knowledge of medicine was terribly outdated.

"It's not possible," the assassin argued, leaning over the seat to face Abigail, "It just can't be done."

"I know," the witch replied gleefully, "but I just did it. Amazing, right?"