✓ | DEVIL WITHIN. ²

━━━ ii. a hunter's dream.

chapter two.

SLEEPING WITHOUT HAVING DINNER was a bad decision on Veronica's part, it kept her awake stomach groaning and clenching demanding to be fed in the middle of the night. Sleep is the one thing she needs most with what she has planned for tomorrow, you can't finish a hunt with a sleep deprived mind. Apparently, you can't have a proper sleep without having a small bite either.

Lying on on her back her mattress is what she imagined clouds to feel like, her raven hair ticks her forehead as she tilts her head spotting white dots in the navy sky the wind knocking softly on her closed window, it was quite in her room. So quite she could hear herself and Yoselin breath, the whooshing of her heartbeat in her ears and Perseus shuffling downstairs. It was peculiar to hear him late at night locking every door and window, it was his way of feeling secure at night to fall asleep. Veronica preferred to sleep with a switchblade sheathed between her mattress and bed spring easy access to protecting herself.

Goosebumps stand on her tan skin as her bare feet touched the wooden brisk floors sending a spark up her legs with each step she took. Veronica barely spared Perseus a glance noticing his body was glued in front of the printer, her stomach groans again along with her. "I'm starving, I get it."

"Veronica, I think someone broke the printer." Perseus murmured careful not to wake their parents, backing up from the machine as it continued to print sheets.

The huntress rolled her eyes, squinting her eyes at the bright and huffed at its emptiness. "Good luck telling mami and papi." She closed it.

"But I didn't do it." Perseus protested, picking up a sheet his thick eyebrows furrowed. She always wondered how well she'd look with his brows. "It has a bunch of names and numbers next to it. I think we're being pranked."

"What do you mean — " A hard knock interrupted her sentence, her shoulders squared swallowing down her surprise and glanced at Perseus, his face blank clenching his fingers. Her eyes flicker around the hall and picked up a pen whilst he snatched metal spoon, her heartbeats a little fast there's no reason for her to think there could be an intruder knocking at her door at night, but who knocks at someone's house at twelve at night?

Twisting the key unlock, she sucks in a breath. Pen behind her back and brother behind the door, she released a breath pulling the door open. Brown eyes connect with dark houses and trees, not a person in sight. Her shoulders slumped slightly, peeking at Perseus and shook her head. "There's no one."

"Someone knick knack'ed us at night?" Perseus asked, scoffing in disbelief crossing his arms over his chest.

"Not exactly." She muttered, kneeling in front of a black duffel bag. Veronica couldn't tell whether the bag was a threat or a joke, she doesn't want to risk it being the latter. "Wake Yoselin first then mami and papi, I'll guard whatever this is."

Like a good solider Perseus didn't need to be told twice. To anyone oblivious to the supernatural wouldn't thought she was overreacting over a simple bag, doing what she and her family do for living you're bound to make enemies who would do anything for revenge or to make a statement. Taking the risk of this being harmless would be idiotic and her mother didn't raise an idiot.

* * *

AROUND THE SQUARE COUNTER stood the Morillo family listening to intrusions by a man named the benefactor. Once Yoselin examined the duffle bag and made sure it wasn't a menace, her fingers laid a petit black, red and white cassette tape and read play me — it confused and irritated them someone left a large bag for a tiny cassette in the middle of night when it could've been done in the morning. Veronica thought the opposite, if they could do it in the morning then they would so she pressed start.

" — After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment." The record goes silent.

"Did anybody get that?" Perseus inquired, his elbows on the counter rubbing his eyes.

"What is there not to get?" Yoselin replied, her thumb resting on her bottom lip reading the sheet of names. "This is a supernatural Deadpool and we're their slayers."

Taking the paper from her daughter's hand, their mother bits her bottom lip. "Their voice was manipulated, this benefactor knows more about us then we do with them and expects us to do their bidding?"

"Isn't it what we've been doing this entire time?" Mr. Morillo quipped, an arm crossed as he rubbed his left eyebrow suppressing his yawn. "Hunting whatever goes bump in the night. Having someone pay us for it shouldn't change a thing."

"It does when we don't know their half of this deal." Mrs. Morillo replied, chin to tilted to look her husband in the eye.

"Maybe it's best we don't." Veronica piped up, her fingers tracing strange patterns on her biceps. The cold has never bothered her, she usual welcomed it but this felt different, she thought back to the mouthless man could he have been let on in this deal, it'd explain why he was devoted to murdering them for slaying his prey. "Everyone has their reasons. Ours, to make the world a better place. We could use this benefactor to our benefit, they clearly hate them as much as we do, maybe even more so."

"This is huge risk." Mrs. Morillo reminds, her eyes piercing each member of her family her pointer finger tapping the counter. "This has a lot of bad outcomes."

"Isn't that we do nearly every week when we head out there?" Yoselin replied, tightening her low ponytail lips pursed to the side. "Dad's right, money shouldn't be a big deal. We'll be connected through an untraceable bank, the big bucks we earn will be safe from people getting curious."

"Everything we do can't be traced back to us and same goes for this benefactor, it's clear by the message they don't want a close relationship, we do our thing and they do theirs." Veronica adds, shoulders straightening mimicking her father's crossed arms. Earning money and taking out the bad guys of her story isn't something wrong, it's long overdue after what her family has been doing for years. "We'd make a great profit, how could you say no?"

"It'd give us an extra reason to stay in this lovely house." Mr. Morillo said, his eyes glancing around the open spaced modern kitchen, it was the type of room you wouldn't mind sacrificing your bedroom for. Perseus has remained silent, he never had an opinion when it came to decisions — always opting to what everyone else chose. By the tilting of her mother's head and her silence, she was thinking hard about the pros and cons. "All those against raise your hand."

Nobody did.

"All those for, raise your hand." Almost in sync, five hands flung in the air settling their decision. Veronica's skin began to tingle, the Morillo family is here to stay for a time longer than she anticipated. Should Beacon Hills be quaking or thanking?

Guess.