Nightbound

Chapter 7- Hunter's Assignment

Nik paced in the parking lot like an angry cat.

I crossed my arms and watched him, or rather watched his face turning almost red with anger. He was cursing under his breath, and the words- the League, the job, the bond, the assignment, the Daskin boy and the wolves were preceded by fuck.

"This is ridiculous! They are playing with me this time!" He exclaimed, looking at me.

I said nothing because I was still reeling from the tarot reading session. The eerie fact was Luc somehow knew that I was having these dreams and hearing that voice which warned and consolidated at the same time. It hasn't been even twenty-four hours since I had stepped into New Orleans and the life I knew had completely changed.

The life I knew was no longer the same.

Or ever will be.

"Care you share?" I asked, "What do you mean by 'shaking hands with the wolves'?"

Nik's profession was still a mystery to me. All I knew was that he was some sort of enforcer acting to protect the humans and others alike against each other, a faction of night. Nighthunters seemed very secretive and even Luc had no idea about him. I was having a belief that he knew more and apparently couldn't share because of his powers to part through the veil.

I felt sorry for that guy. It wasn't fair for someone to endure the burdens of past and the visions of future knowing he couldn't change anything or speak a word to anyone about it.

"The League." Nik spat the word, "Is my head. They are a few cagey members who rule the order in United States. There are other Leagues around the globe and they are not necessarily concentrated to a country. A League can span its coverance over several countries and mine happens to be the most dramatic."

"The League is like the Council in the East Coast?"

He shook his head, "No. No. The League is nothing like the Council. In fact, the Council has to answer the League once in a year. League is the administrative, legislative and executive body of the World of Night."

I bit my lips, "That's a lot of power."

"Trust me. They have it on their hands, and they can power play anytime. Two months ago, there was the Vrascalia Incident."

"Finally." I rolled my eyes. He ignored it and continued, "Vrascalia is a festival of the Fae which is related to spring. Mind you, the Fae are extremely celebratory creatures and the number of festivals they have exceeds the human calendar days. Anyways, so this year, some of the fire demons crashed the party."

"Ah-uh."

"Hundreds of them came at once, ripped everything and destroyed the altar the Fae had built for the celebration. Nighthunters were called in and it pushed into an all-our war." He leaned against his car, "I was there as well, doing my so called duty. We subdued the fire demons but their king wasn't happy. He sent his goons to kidnap some of the Nighthunters and released them weeks later in a very...fragile state. Fire demons can be very lethal. So, as a result, the League had placed a curfew for all the active Nighthunters in whole of Louisiana and declared the Kingdom of Fire Demons as the enemy of Night. Our absence sparked an increase rate of crimes, murder and kidnapping. Accordingly, the League allowed some of the members to venture out in secret and try to keep it quiet."

"Let me guess. You were the golden boy once again?"

Silver eyes glowered at me, "Riiiight. I was to take care of some wolves that had rather gone really wild."

"Wolves as in....werewolves?" I bleakly asked.

"Riiiiight again. Yeah. Rad and rowdy, highly temperamental and lack reasoning. I had to subdue some of them." He informed.