You know most of the human race is oblivious to supernatural goings on in the world and that's how we'd like it to stay. "we?" I hear you ask, well that's a good question, we're known as hunters and hunters are the ones that protect the world. Ok so that sounds pretty dramatic I mean that's the job description and it is what we do but there's more to it than that. We keep the humans in the dark about what's going on, it's safer that way, we also protect the creatures and supernatural beings who want to live quiet normal lives but the main and (I probably shouldn't say it) most fun part of the job is the actual hunting. We slay or sometimes capture the ones who mean to cause harm to innocents, vampires, demons, stray werewolves, ghosts (yes ghosts, they're like an imprint left behind by an evil being, nothing like Casper… believe me) and a whole host of other weird and wonderful (but pretty dangerous and most of the time deadly) creatures. Of course like I said before there are some of these various species that choose to fight on the good side or sometimes they like to remain neutral, so we defend them. Defend the good, defeat the evil, it's the way of the hunter and my way of life.
My name is Jasper Ashwood and I'm a hunter. Well obviously that's not all I am, I'm a sixteen year old kid who lives in Bristol with my mother Rose, stepdad Shaun and ten year old brother Jake. We live in an alright sized house that backs onto the woods and next door in a house with a bright yellow door live Naomi Cambell, her mother Gina and her stepdad Kieran. Naomi is my half-sister, you probably think it's a weird set up that they live next door but it's better that way believe me, it's a little complicated so let me explain. Our dad (in the biological sense only, I never even met the asshole) was dating Gina and when she found out she was pregnant with Naomi she was over the moon, he however, thought it would be a good idea to cheat on her, so he had a one night stand which resulted in me. He left once he found out about Naomi and neither Gina nor my mother saw him for a year, by the time Naomi was five months old and I was three months old he came back only to meet up with our mothers to let them know that we were both his kids. After that he disappeared for good and our mothers decided to keep in contact so that Naomi and I would be in each other's lives. They grew quite close in those first couple of years and when the house next to Gina's was up for sale my mother jumped at the chance and moved in. I love them both for that, when I was four my mum met Shaun, they fell in love, got married and two years later they had Jake. Shaun was dad to me and Naomi as well as Jake until Gina married Kieran when we were twelve and with that we were all happy, both of our mothers had people they loved who loved them back and we had dads who actually wanted to stick around. Yeah it was all happy families and boring mundane lives until a week before Naomi's thirteenth birthday.
Jake and I were at Naomi's because our mum and Shaun gone out with Shaun's sister for dinner. We were playing a board game in the living room when a knock came from the front door; Gina had gone to answer it and came back to the living room with a look of confusion on her face. She was followed by a tall pale skinned man in a tight fitting black three piece suit, he had short mousy brown hair geld perfectly into place and had thin rimmed glasses covering his glowing golden brown eyes. He introduced himself as Markus and began to explain that we were hunters, of course we didn't have a clue what he was on about so went into a little more detail.
"The hunter gene is passed on from parent to child and with you two I'm assuming it's the absent father. The hunter gene causes us to be stronger, faster, quicker healing and more agile than regular humans, all hunters need to be trained and you two are no exception. I was sent here to be your mentor and once Jasper has turned thirteen then you will have to start training, your powers begin to show at thirteen and you will need to learn to control it. I'll be in touch the day after so I don't interrupt the celebrations."
So the day after my birthday he turned up again and took us to where we would be training and learning all of the things that hunters needed to know. He took us through the woods at the back of our houses until we got to a lone standing wooden house. Downstairs was a large living room area with shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls, the kitchen which had racks of ingredients for potions and various other "hunter activities" as Markus put it and the final room downstairs was Markus's study which is also the only room we've never been allowed in. Upstairs there were several bedrooms and the attic was home to a lot of cages of various sizes in case we needed to lock something up overnight or longer (more than once have we had werewolves stay overnight). The house is great but the best part (in my opinion) is the basement, this is where we train and where we keep all the weapons, enchanted items, armour and any other important equipment. The basement is actually three times the size of the house, at one end there's a shooting range and archery targets and racks full of equipment to use. At the opposite end a large matted area for hand to hand combat and lining the walls are practice dummies for weapon use along with more racks, shelves and a few lockers all full to the brim with gear we needed to learn to use.
So there you have it, three years on and we train everyday patrol every night and somehow manage to keep up with schoolwork and have a social life. We have quite a diverse group of mates who know about our secret, they're the only ones that know actually… apart from our families, there's Freddie he's a skater, stoner and all around good guy, Cook he puts on a brash laddish exterior but inside he's a softie, JJ's a sweetheart who gets "locked on" sometimes he's also a werewolf, Thomas is an always happy eager to help guy who sees the best in everyone, Pandora (or Panda as we usually call her) is completely bonkers but in the best way, she's a seer (as in seeing the future and stuff) and her and Thomas make a great couple, the final member of our group is Effy our always mysterious mind reader (really she's a telepath) and obviously Naomi and I. Naomi is more reluctant to let people in to our group than I am, I mean obviously I'm cautious but she can be closed off even from her friends to a certain extent but they understand, the only two people she is completely open with are Effy and me, Effy because no one can hide anything from her and me because we have a strong bond, not just as brother and sister or as hunters but because we have each other's lives in our hands every time we step out on patrol.
Tonight's patrol was quiet and with no slaying to be done we headed home early since we're starting college in the morning. Roundview or "an utter shithole full of wee arse holes" according to Kieran, he's a politics lecturer there so I'm taking his word for it. We turned into our street when Naomi nudged me in the ribs.
"Watch it, I have a sword remember" I warn her playfully whilst gesturing to the sheathed weapon hanging from my belt.
"Sorry" she replies mockingly "was just wandering what you were thinking."
"Just thinking about tomorrow, going to be weird for the first few days but the gang's going to be there so it'll be a laugh at least."
"Hopefully."
We stopped outside Naomi's house, I hugged her goodnight before walking next door to my own. I walked through the front door locking it behind me, all the lights were out. Everyone must be in bed already, I check my watch, yep 12:15am, I head upstairs to my room taking off weapons along the way. Once I get to my room I have half my gear in my hand and place it on the desk quickly removing the rest before stripping down to my boxers and getting into bed. I pass out almost as soon as my head hit's the pillow with my last thought being that I hoped tomorrow would be as quiet as tonight's patrol, the last thing we needed was demons showing up when we had to lay low.