Shadow Hunters

Many in the small village of Elcher Hill had not believed that the young woman who stood before them had the power to protect them. When the beast came the night before, she met it with blade and cunning. Werewolves are hard to kill, but she had experience enough to deal with a newly transformed beast. When it had lunged at her, she had stabbed her silver dagger into its chest and allowed herself to fall backwards. When her back hit the ground, her feet shot upwards, propelling the heavy creature off of her and onto its back as well.

It lay there, writhing and howling in pain as the silver poisoned it and the flesh around the wound bubbled and burned. It gave little resistance as she came over and delivered the finishing blow, slicing the head from the body. With her job done, she went to the village elder with her gruesome trophy and collected her reward.

That night she washed the blood and sweat from her body and tried to relax, but her mind was racing once again. Another werewolf was slain at her hands, but it was still a newly transformed beast. It wasn’t the one she hunted. The werewolf Lycaon had evaded her for four years, spreading and destruction wherever he went. He was an old wolf, sly and wicked, feeding off of the it spread from town to town. She had no other leads on where the wolf had gone, so after a good night’s rest she was prepared to return to Namina for her next assignment.

The road was full of travelers so she was rarely lonely on her two day walk to the merchant city. Other hunters called out a friendly greeting to her when she stopped the first night for a rest at a road side tavern. She celebrated with them, but spent her night alone before leaving again. It was late the next day when she arrived in Namina. Although she had money to spare, she didn’t go to either the market or the bazaar to spend any. She was ready for her next hunt.

At the Lounge, the elder stood behind the bar, pouring a drink for a hunter named Ace. She recognized him but ignored when he called out to her. She walked over to the bulletin board where bills were posted. There were several interesting bills posted. She was about to pick one when a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

“Venus, you could at least say hello to me.”

Venus turned to Ace, wishing he would just leave her alone. He knew better than to pester her when she is in one of her moods, but he always wanted to play the peacemaker.

“I would say hello if I wasn’t tired and just wanted to get on with my next hunt. I don’t have much else to do anyway.”

“You’ve been working nonstop lately. You need a rest.”

She turned away from him and back to the board. One bill was for another werewolf who inhabited a forest near the village of Casval. It was odd that a village so near Brax would use a board from Namina to post a bill.

Then there was a bill for a vampire who had been attacking utabi, Altima, and Reshin villages. Several attractive young women had been kidnapped in each attack. The vampire’s exact strength was unknown, but he had managed to kill another hunter already.

The only other interesting bill was for the capture of a Kappa that had been spotted at Velsin falls. Kappas were rarely a challenge for a hunter, but they had more than enough strength to take down a normal human woman. Although they are mostly just curious tricksters, kappas have been known to steal babies and women.

Now she just had to make a decision…