The Hunter || clifford

.eight.

.eight. 

"You don't know why I'm being hunted, do you?"

When Michael told her he wasn't aware why she was being hunted, she quickly grabbed his hand and led him to the local library, where she knew she would find the information they needed. The Historical Library of Montreal, which had been open since the early beginnings of settlements in the country. They entered the building and Hazel led him to a staircase on the left that led down to an underground floor.

The staircase led to a long hallway which split to the left and to the right. On the walls were paintings depicting important historical events, while others were portraits of important people. Hazel went to the right, to a long hallway and stopped at the last door, just before reaching the emergency exit.

It was labeled, Historical Beginnings of Canada.

It was locked with a code needed to enter that she punched into the number pad. A small light flashed green and the door opened before them. Hazel smiled, pulling him into the room. It was a fairly small room with bookshelves filled with old books.

"My family is the oldest family in this town." She explained, letting go of his hand and walking to one side of the room where she picked out one of the books. "We're one of the founding families in Montreal, so I have access to this room whenever I please."

"And what exactly is in this room?" Michael asked.

She lifted the book for him to see, it was labeled; The Quimbys.

Hazel gestured to a small desk with two chairs in front of it and they boy sat down. She opened the old book to reveal an old map of the new world.

"In the past, European nations were out to take over as much of the world as they could. France was one of those nations. Present day Montreal was inhabited by Native people until the French established a colony in 1642. By 1760, this territory was surrendered to the British who were led by my ancestor; Jack Quimby." She started, her fingers running over the rough paper where a map had been drawn hundreds of years before in black ink. "When I was small, I always heard legends about him and how he was able to take this land from the French. They say he made a pact with the dead, in which they would grant him and his family supernatural powers that he could use to take the land and in exchange, he would have to sacrifice his first son."

Michael listened to the story in awe. Everything she was saying sounded like it was something out of a fantasy book or maybe even a scary story. And he knew he wouldn't believe any of it if he didn't know about shifters. "And did he kill his son?" Michael wondered.

Hazel shook her head. "He didn't. And the dead are always watching, they were thirsty for blood. They were furious. So they granted another group of people these powers. These were people who had no one, they would have nothing to lose in exchange for these powers. They were the first hunters." She flipped the pages until she found what she was looking for. It was an old photograph of a group of boys in their late teen years. They looked like their were practicing with using their powers. "This is my dad with his brothers and cousins. After almost three hundred years, the blood line has expanded as Quimbys moved away and married into other families. Still, my brother and I are the only two remaining from the original direct bloodline of the first shifter. And though only a male can pass on the shifter gene, the hunter needs to kill us both to end it all."

"To end what?" Michael asked.

"When the hunters were given their powers, they were told that after the last original member of my family dies...everyone who currently exists in this world with special abilities will become just a normal human." She replied.