Chapter One: Doctors by day, Hunters by Night.
The day had gone off in a rush. Patient after patient showed up, and Hanna had no time to even get a coffee as she flew between rooms.
She was looking at an accident victim now, who had suffered an injury to his leg. She finished wrapping up the particularly nasty wound, when her pager beeped again, the boy in front of her jumping at the beep.
"You're going to be alright as long as you keep changing that regularly," she said to the young man. "I have to go," she told him, and barely saw him nod before she took off.
Running upstairs, she ran into Keith, an attendant. "Where's Leah?" she asked, referring to Leah Grant, another doctor at the hospital, and her friend.
"She's waiting in OR3," He replied, as he too passed her in a hurry. She walked over to her destination as fast as her legs could take her.
"Oh, Hanna, good, you're here. Get in." was all Leah said to her, as she walked into the OT. A few minutes later she was in her scrubs. They did not speak further, acting in a learned, settled rhythm that they had, quickly finishing the operation.
When they came out, Leah called out to Hanna, "Hey Hanna, what are you doing tonight?"
Hanna looked at Leah, as a knowing look came over her face. "Why? Please tell me you're not setting me up again?" Hanna's face looked almost aghast as she remembered the last time Leah introduced her to someone. That had NOT gone well.
"Oh come on, you'll like this one, I swear." Leah pouted, trying to coax Hanna. Leah always thought Hanna was far too separated from society. Being a good friend, she worried.
"Well, Matty may be coming in tonight." Hanna answered. She felt relieved to have a good enough reason to not go on another date. Not that Hanna didn't like dating, but she knew she couldn't afford forming any serious ties. That wasn't meant for her. Hanna did feel a little sad to refuse Leah, because she knew the older woman only did it out of concern.
"Your brother? He was supposed to come the day after." Leah looked suspiciously at her.
"Um, he says got an early ticket. So tonight's no-go." Hanna sheepishly explained.
"But Katie will be home, won't she?" Leah asked, referring to Hanna's roommate, a part time bartender and a full time hunter.
"Yeah, but I haven't seen Matt in over a month now. And he's only here for a day and a half. He said on the phone that he wanted to come home, all of a sudden, so I'm a bit worried too. He didn't sound tense though." Hanna spoke as if speaking to herself.
"Alright, grandma, I dunno why I even try." Leah sighed. "I gotta rush downstairs. Bye!" Leah said, looking at her own pager that had begun beeping, and ran away.
Hanna looked at the parting form of Leah, and tried to push away the thoughts that always surfaced when she thought of having any sort of romantic relationship. "Not now," She chided herself, walking over to her next task.
As she walked to her car that evening, eager to see her brother, she thought about him. He was her only family, and she knew what her price for keeping him had been.
"No, no no…. mother please tell me, tell me he's gonna be okay, tell me …" Hanna sobbed uncontrollably, on the other side of the phone, while her mother, a frequently relapsing alcoholic, stood shock-stilled and eerily calm, informing her that Matthew was injured in a car accident. He was in hospital, about to die.
Hanna didn't even remember the ride down to the hospital. When she was alone in the room with him, all she could think of was how she failed him, how she failed herself. The guilt consumed her.
She knew her mom would never come back now. Before this, Hanna used to believe that she could cure her mother of grief that always consumed her. Bring back the cheerful, nurturing woman that she had once been.
Alcohol had been the poison that had sucked the life out of their family. Her mother had at least always tried to get rid of the addiction, even if she often failed. But Hanna realized that this shock, this blow had been the last. If Matty died, her mother would probably kill herself.
"I'll do anything to make this go away, I swear. Matty, please don't die. I should have been here, and it's my fault."
The helplessness stifled her; the pressure just kept building, as the doctors informed her that there was no more, only waiting to see Matt's body respond.
That they could do no more. The fact that Matt's dying was a real possibility froze her into a state of panic that she thought she would never recover from.
And then the blow struck.
She was all alone, her mother asleep somewhere in the hospital. She was by his bedside, exhausted, aged beyond her years. There was a sudden change in the atmosphere: the machines started beeping, there were flashes of lights, and nurses started streaming in.
She watched listlessly, not understanding, just waiting for a conclusion, hoping and praying it would be the one she wanted.
She just dropped to the floor, whispering, "Anything, anything, just come back Matt."
She was broken out of her reverie by the sound of footsteps. She looked around, alert of her surroundings; ready for anything that may come.
She heaved a sigh of relief as she saw those footsteps belonged to a known face. "Roy? What are you doing here?"
"I need to help." His face was serious, and he looked sweaty, as if he had run some distance.
Hanna trusted Roy. He was the hunter that had helped Hanna on some of her cases, and she always lent him a hand with research and patching him and his friends.
"Hey Hanna. Need your car. Mine broke down." Roy never used too many words.
"Yeah, Come on." Hanna replied, both running towards her car.
It was longer drive than Hanna expected, but Roy made short work of it, driving like a maniac. It was not luck, but constant caution that made Hanna keep some weaponry on her at all times.
Roy led the way inside the house, Hanna followed. Roy had already explained the case.
Inside the living room, a man and woman lay unconscious, in a strewn about way. Hanna saw quickly there was no bleeding anywhere, probably just hard hit to the head.
She heard a struggle, and ran further inside to see a little girl, fists clenched, tears streaming as she watched her older brother with horror.
The boy, possessed, held a knife to his wrists. Roy rushed in, pulling the girl away, trying to save her at least.
Hanna stood in front of the boy.
"Don't do this. Don't take this little boy away from his family. I know, it was unfair, that you were taken away, I know, baby." Hanna cajoled, speaking to the spirit that took possession of the little boy's body.
He stood there, his hands shivering, the sharp blade held to the wrists that were clenching a toy. Hanna almost cried, looking at the little kid who had to go through something like that.
Roy quietly stepped behind the kid, and touched him with the iron knife. He shivered, and suddenly the spirit smoked out of his body. The kid slumped down, unable to stay awake.
Roy shouted, "It's the toy soldier," Hanna quickly snatched the toy out of his hands, and threw it to Roy who had his lighter out. As he set it on fire, the spirit wailed, and burnt out.
Hanna and Roy sighed with relief. There was silence, as each got their breathing to normal.
Hanna sent Roy to comfort the little girl, and set about to checking the boy. Roy had the girl calmed down in a few seconds; he always was good with kids. The boy was just in shock, luckily, noticed Hanna, and thanked god that there were no physical injuries.
The parents were then woken, and checked for injuries. Except for a few bruises and cuts, they were both fine, but they were obviously shaken. In haltering tones, they explained what had happened before the two hunters had showed up, to save them.
Those two had had no idea what had been causing such havoc in their family for the past few days. When Hanna softly told them the truth, they were shattered. They didn't want to believe any of it, and yet, couldn't deny any of it.
A few hours later, Hanna and Roy returned to Hanna's home, where a very irate and angry Katie stood at the door. They had to stop by and get Roy's car fixed up, which took some time.
"Where were you?" She asked, bouncing because of her anger. "I called. Like ten times. And the hospital told me you'd left an hour ago. You know I don't take well to you missing," She began her rant, "Oh, and by the way, Matthew's reaching at six in the morning. He called, since you wouldn't pick up."
Hanna sighed. It looked like it would take some time before she let you or Roy inside the house.
After she'd gone on for a few minutes, Roy quietly stepped nearer to Katie, and said in his calm, cool tones, "I'm hungry."
Katie stood stunned for a minute. "I'm sorry. Come on in." She moved, and let both of them inside. "Don't think I'm done yet, Hanna." she warned.
But Hanna knew Kate was a sweetheart that couldn't bear being angry for a long time.
"Roy took me on a hunt." She replied, looking at Katie's face that said "So? What happened?"
"What was it?" she asked, as she went into kitchen, trying to get some food ready for Roy and Hanna. "Spirit!" Hanna replied shortly from the staircase, climbing upstairs to her room.
Katie had dinner ready in a few minutes, which Roy and Hanna wolfed down, hungry after a hunt. "This is a great place, I always say," Roy said.
The house was neither too small nor too huge. It had two floors; upstairs, three bedrooms, and downstairs, a guest room, living room, and a kitchen with a small attached dining room. A small garden in front, but a larger one in the backyard, was teeming with greenery, since Hanna hadn't bothered to care for it more than calling a gardener in a blue moon.
There was a spacious basement though, which lend a good advantage for the hunters in it, creating a safe-room, or a bunker within the house if they ever were in trouble.
"Yeah. Thanks to this one." Katie pointed at Hanna. "Your parent's place, isn't it?" He asked.
"Yes. My mom's actually. My grandfather built this house, and it passed on to mom and then to me." Hanna answered, "I spent a few summers here in my childhood. And then, two years ago, after Mum passed away, I just, I wanted to get away. So I came here and somehow ended up taking one very, very stupid hunter home." Hanna winked at Katie.
"I was drunk!" Katie argued, in a shrill voice.
"You wanted to make a move on me. So you pretended to be drunk. Let's not forget." Hanna laughed, "And you couldn't even tell I wasn't into you!" She giggled, unable to stop it.
Katie replied, with her nose high up in the sky. "Potato, Potato. I think you wanted to take me home that day."
"Anyway, after I explained my inclinations quite clearly, Katie was a mess of stuttering apologies- "Was not stuttering!"
"And then, imagine my surprise, when I'm looking for a demon, this one shows up, all guns blazing, and for a moment I'm like, is she one of them?" Hanna was into the story now, and she told it with gusto.
"Hah! You would have shot me." Katie said. "Yup. Thank god for holy water." Hanna replied.
"Thank god for holy water." Katie chanted after. "You're lucky we met that day. You were such a horrible hunter, you NEEDED me." Katie emphasized the word.
"That is one thing I have to agree on. She's saved me more than I can count." Hanna replied, thanking god silently in her mind for a friend like Katie.
"Alright, that's enough sappy stories for one time. Want something to drink?" Katie asked Roy, as she got up to help herself. "No thank you, I think I should hit the road. I like driving in the night better." Roy said.
The girls insisted, asking him to stay the night. But Roy was intent on travelling so they said their goodbyes, in the middle of the night, watching him drive away.
