Joseph face was full of terror. The sun was almost down for the day, meaning he had minutes to take refuge inside someone else´s home. He was too far from his own home yet.
"Come on old friend, we need to reach Harry's now" mumbled the man to his horse. The animal, despite giving his best efforts, wasn´t going to make it in time and joseph knew it. An ominous howl was heard over the noise made by the animal´s hoofs "Faster! We are almost there."
A little light started to be seen on the horizon, Harry's farm was just there. If only his old horse could go faster.
"Auuuuu!"
Fire lights surrounded joseph and his companion. The flares appearing just mere seconds leaving behind a terrifying hound the size of a young colt wit molten lava for eyes. If only he had waited one more night. If only he had taken Jeremiah's offer of taking his younger and faster horse. If only he had waited the slayer to finish making her preparations for the trip. But at least she was on her way now, and with a little bit of luck he would be their last victim.
##################
The rusty bucket was one of the many canteens Euride town had to offer and despite not being the biggest or the fanciest of them, it was always bustling with customers. Even now being the middle of the day (usually a dead time for this kind of establishments) there were a few customers sitting around and having lunch alongside a freezing cold beer. Sadly, fang wasn´t here to have one for herself, no, pure business is what have called her in.
"Hello there mate, tell me you have a good tip for me today." She said to the scrawny bartender serving customers.
"I wouldn´t know if it´s good news or not, but eight days ago a farmer from Gapra that seemed desperate to find a demon slayer came through those doors you see there." He pointed to the canteen doors, as if to make it even clearer he mean the ones from this establishment. "I gave him a few names to start his search, I´m not sure for whom he went or who accepted the job thought."
"And why didn´t you gave him my name?"
"Who said I didn´t? Not my fault your title isn´t demon slayer, when he heard you were a gunslinger he lost interest immediately. He emphasized on the importance of it having to be a demon slayer. Well whatever the case, I imagine whoever he chose it wasn´t a good one."
"What makes you say so?" hearing bad news was always a bad omen for fang´s own jobs. She hoped for this one not to be that bad.
"According to what little I heard from him it was a simple hellhound infestation. Nothing terribly difficult but..."
"They thought they could deal with it themselves" usually when hellhounds were involved the more you waited to get rid of them the more they became "when are they going to learn to let the professionals handle it?"
The bartender knowing as well how bad of idea was that, just kept explaining while polishing the jugs "It seemed he needed help urgently and ready to go the same day. Considering it takes three days to reach Gapra and one to finish off even an oversized hellhound pack. I would say whoever went to take care of the farmer´s job it´s already dead."
Without any doubt. No matter how much of an amateur you were, hellhounds are fast to take care of. Unless you manage to get yourselves killed "How sad for the poor fellow but that means I got a job to do" flashing the most charming of her smiles fang gave the bartender a few coins. "Who else you have told your story?"
"You wound me fang" the bartender took his right hand to his heart as if he had received a shot to it "You know I only talk to you."
Fang was preparing the most sarcastic remark she could think of, but just as she opened her mouth a young girl with pink hair walked to the bar and asked a question "Excuse me, have you heard anything from the person who went to take care of the hellhound infestation?"
The bartender´s face went to fang and back to the girl then back to fang "I swear thrice on my mother´s grave that I had nothing to do with it."
The girl´s behavior became skittish and nervous after seeing the bartender´s reaction "Why do you wanna know?" fang asked before any more question came out of her. Then, as if she just realized fang´s presence, the girl looked at her not knowing whether to answer or stay silent. Sensing her discomfort fang changed the question. "Do you know the fellow?" bingo! The girl´s eye answered for her. Fang had to be careful not letting on what she knew.
"My sister" said the girl in barely a murmur.
"Excuse me!" exclaimed fang not believing her luck. The last she needed was to make a scene so she calmed herself down.
"My sister is the one who took the hellhound job" repeated the girl this time with a good level of voice.
Neither fang nor the bartender knew what to say. With the knowledge they had no, the girl´s sister was probably dead. Their silence didn´t help to keep her calm. She sensed something was wrong and worry started adorning her delicate features. "Have something happened to her?"
"No, no… I mean we hadn´t heard anything" stuttered fang almost giving herself away. But the girl dubious look was still on her "I´ll tell you what, I am headed Gapra´s direction so if I see your sister I´ll tell her that… eh…"
"Serah"
"I´ll tell her that her sister serah it´s worried and waiting for her return."
"Would you really do that for me? Really?" serah´s excitement was shown to fang by having the girl take her hands and interlacing their fingers while jumping.
"Yeah for real, just calm down" nervous, fang looked around, despite serah´s little outburst no one seemed to have taken notice of them.
"Thank you, thank you really. You won´t miss my sister. She´s got the same shade of pink hair as me, difficult to overlook. Her name is lightning."
After giving serah a bit more of assurance fang took her leave. And as discreetly as she could, started preparing for the three day journey to Gapra. Her first stop was to buy a big stash of bullets. Her excuse being she just came back from a job and needed to restock. As exaggerated as all her measures appeared, it really paid off to mislead the competition. Once she had bought everything she needed, she packed it all inside bahamut´s travel bags and rode him out of town under the cover of night. The trek wasn´t that much of a hassle as fang thought it was going to be. Not a single natural or supernatural being got in her and her black stallion´s way and the weather was mostly generous except that one night the sky decided to fall on them. Fang timed everything so she could arrive to Gapra just a little after midday, and she did. The town´s people were running around taking food, bed sheets and pillows from every single house to the town´s hall. Everything needed to pass the night as comfortable as possible.
"Hello there! Heard you have a big infestation problem." Fang made bahamut stop in front of a group of people and got down with ease. "What can you tell me out this pack of hellhounds?" The guys frowned but did nothing else. Their eyes had bags under them and their hands were shaking like crazy. It was a wonder to her how they manage to keep them holding things.
An old man that was passing saw the one way conversation "Don´t worry Jake, Frank, Mitch go back to work I'll take her care of her." He had a round face and white whiskers "I´m the towns chief what do you need?"
"The name´s fang. I´m a gunslinger that can get rid of the hellhounds disturbing your peace."
"The last gal that came, said something along those lines. Don´t want to be a pessimist but after a week out there with the beasts I'm pretty much sure she´s dead." His face was not sad nor scared while he spoke. It was more like the face of someone that had accepted the end and was only waiting for it to come the most comfortable way possible.
"I´m not scare of dying. Besides, I kinda make a promise to the last gal´s sister that I would find her."
The chief let scape a sigh and not compromising to anything, said "if you come back we will pay you but we are not going to be responsible for whatever happens to you out there."
"I´m not asking you to be" fang answered gruffly. She hated when people did that, it was her choice to take the jobs and no one was responsible for her own decisions but her.
"Then if you have nothing else to ask I'll be on my way."
"Wait! What else can you tell me about the infestation?"
"North, that´s where the other one went." He walk away as fast as he could not letting fang ask anything more.
"Stupid farmers, I'm starting to understand what could have gone wrong with serah´s sister" mumbled fang with a certain degree of annoyance. "Come on bahamut, let´s get out of town and hunt some hellhounds."
North of town fang found a wide plain barren of any vegetation but abundant in rocks of many shapes and sizes. A perfect set up for fang, she could cover herself behind them and keep shooting. And bahamut could flee either to town or the woods she could see on the distance if the worst happened. Her eyes now watched carefully the ground in search of little clues that would tell her what´s being going on around. She found tracks all around the place, hellhound´s, a horse the same size as bahamut and a pair of combat boots. Plus some shot marks left on top of the rocks.
"Weird" fang crouched to look closely at the tracks "a fight took place here pal, but I don´t see anything that suggest lightning had it rough. What do you think bahamut, any theories?" She gave a look to her horse, he may not be able to talk but he was the smartest horse she had ever met.
Bahamut was nervous, his head turned to look at his rider telling her his thoughts with his big round eyes. He didn´t like the plain. Then he moved his eyes to the forest´s direction. He definitely hated the forest. Fang followed her friend´s eyes "the forest ah? I have a bad feeling about it to. Let´s keep our distance from that place then." Fang let the forest be for the moment and went back to a certain group of rocks that looked excellent for what she had in mind. "Well bahamut let´s get that saddle off" fang got both the saddle and bags to the ground and took out a shovel. The trick had been taught to her by her grandfather. When there was ever need to leave something behind while pursuing a prey it was only a matter of digging a hole big enough for your things. Then burying them with a mark on top to remember where exactly you have to dig again. Fang´s mark was a bit peculiar and was sure to keep nosy people away. It consisted of a wooden cross with the name old Jenkins carved on it. Who would dig the tomb of an old man? "Everything is ready buddy and just in time. It shouldn´t take long for the hounds to appear."
The sun was already hiding to her left behind the mountains and the flame bursts of the hellhounds started to light up the plain. "Ready bahamut? This could get ugly" her partner neighed ready for battle. Last spring a new trend had spread among any traveler that had to go thru dangerous lands. Special horseshoes made out of blessed silver and engraved with powerful runes that could cast away anything evil. Of course not every horse was happy to run into a fight with the first demon or evil spirit it could see. Having the means to attack didn´t mean the horse would use them, it required a particular horse with the right character to make the most of the horseshoes. And bahamut was that kind of horse. No hellhound will be getting it´s fangs on her horse if he had a say on the matter. Hoping onto him and taking out her twin revolvers fang shot the first dog to appear. That´s when all hell broke loose, bahamut shot forward cutting throughout the bulk of the pack while fang hit as many as she could. The hellhounds tried to bite off a chunk of bahamut´s legs in order to make fang fall. But if a bullet didn´t send them back to hell a well-placed kick from the stallion did the job.
"You are doing a great job buddy, keep it up, we are almost done" shouted fang over the noise of the scuffle. Only five hellhounds remained and all were taking their distance from the dangerous hoofs. The leader howled calling to the others and ran away in the forest´s direction "oh no! I won´t let you escape" bahamut gave chase catching up with ease. BANG! "One!" BANG! "Two!" BANG! "Three!" BANG! "Four!" BANG! "Damn mutt don´t make it difficult!" BANG! BANG! BANG! The last hound jumped and turned in every direction as if he knew exactly when fang was going to shoot it. Too clever for a hellhound 'what is going on?' thought fang somewhat nervous knowing the last person had disappeared in this same direction.
The demon dog took advantage of those few seconds of doubt and sprinting the last few meters dived under the bushes. This time bahamut didn´t follow, he neighed loudly and stopped almost immediately not giving fang time to adjust her weight nor grab at his reins. "Waaa!" she flew out the saddle falling on top a very thorny bush. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" her exclamation make have been harsh but wasn´t enough to make the horse move even an inch. He won´t be entering the forest no matter what fang does or says to convince him.
"Como on, you can´t leave me now that we´ve make it this far." Bahamut looked at her and then without making a single noise turned around giving fang the best view of his behind, yes I can. Fang gave him a hard look "Be careful then, I shouldn´t take long." Her friend looked at her one last time and then walked away in search of a place to pass the night while he waited. Once she made sure bahamut was on his way she turned back and entered the forest.
"Come doggy, doggy, come" the silence was unnerving, not a single sound could be heard. Not even the ones the hellhound should be making along his flight. 'Damn, I don´t like this one bit. Now I get why bahamut refused to come.' Fang stopped her advance and crouched in search of any trail left behind but could see nothing. No leaves nor sticks, no tracks at all either. She decided to keep walking deeper into the forest, the space around her becoming darker with each step she made. Suddenly the wind started to blow, moving all the leaves to the same beat. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck something bad it´s coming. I can feel it!' Speak of the devil and he will come, a terrifying scream went all out making fang jump between the nearest pair of bushes. The volume of the scream increased, up and up it went with every minute gone. That told fang that whatever was making that sound was getting closer. Then as suddenly as it had started the scream changed in to a sad lament that make fang´s heart shrink. The pain transmitted by it was almost unbearable. Fang felt sad, terrified, and hopeless. All at the same time, confusing her and making it difficult to think at all. For a while fang could only lay there on her side, eyes closed and body bend in a fetal position. When the cry went past fang the temperature dropped she even had to press her teeth hard together to stop them from chattering. She couldn´t stop her body from shaking, the leave of the bushes following suit. That´s how the creature discovered her, the lament changed back to a shattering scream. Fang didn´t wait for it to go for her, she shot out of the bushes running with all her might not even looking back at the thing. The lone scream was now a chorus following fang. The dark feelings multiplied, but among the three, the strongest one for her was fear. She could do nothing but run. Her mind too scared to do anything else 'damn, what do I do!? What do I do!?' Fang thoughts were frantic. It was too dark now to see what was chasing her or even where she was going. She forced her eyes but it was useless. In a final desperate move she turned, shooting randomly to where she heard the screams come from. "Aaaaaaaah! You want me!? Come! I´m not going out without a fight." Just as she thought everything was lost, a white flash blinded her, but not before she could see the horrifying image of hundreds of banshees.
She felt a hand grab her arm and a cold voice telling her "follow me." She wasn´t going to complain, they walked through the forest, the person in front of her moving swiftly and silently "how do you know where to go? I can hardly see my own nose." Asked fang.
"Silence" said the voice in a murmur.
'It´s a woman´s voice' fang thought with surprise "is your name lightning?" she asked again, this time lowering her voice as much as she could. The woman said nothing, increasing her pace instead and taking them further. Eventually the darkness pulled back, allowing the moonlight penetrate the dense foliage. Part of fang´s fear left her the moment she could finally see something more than her nose. After a few more minutes of walking they reached a clearing where the moon shined as bright as the sun, allowing her to give a good look to the woman guiding her. Pink hair, fair skin and a very intimidating gunblade 'yep, most be serah´s sister' then looking at the gunblade 'only demon slayers carry that kind of weapon.' Crossing the clearing was a rock wall with a cave entrance on it. Lightning went in dragging fang behind her and didn´t stop till she reached the other side. A small fire was lit and a white horse laid comfortably beside it along a familiar black stallion.
"Bahamut!" fang ran to her friend checking him over for injuries. Nothing seemed to be wrong except for how cold he was.
"So he was yours, here, cover him. The nights had been terribly cold lately." Lightning passed her a blanket and then sat facing the fire. "He arrived a few hours ago. When I saw him wandering outside I knew someone had come to finish the job. I ran as fast as I could to find his owner, you, so I didn´t make sure he was warm before I left" the demon slayer gave a look to the horses "but I´m happy to see Odin took care of things and invited him in."
"Thank you, I don´t know what I would do if something happened to him. Thanks to you as well Odin." Fang paused, taking in the calm atmosphere "and thank you for saving me, that was the most terrified I have ever felt. But not the worst situation, it´s confusing. You know?" She watched the fire dance remembering how she felt out there. How she succumbed to the fear and reacted like a cornered animal. If it weren´t for lightning she would have been killed by the banshee´s scream.
"Don´t worry, it´s the warlock´s fault."
"Warlock!?" fang exclaimed, no one had said anything about a damn warlock. "Come on, say something! You are killing me her."
Lightning sighed "alright, but first, how do you know my name?"
Fang blinked, of all the things she could have asked, that wasn´t on the top of her list. Though she shouldn´t be surprised 'I guess I would ask the same if a stranger suddenly used my name.' "Ah… I met your sister serah at the rusty bucket, she was worried about you. My name is fang by the way."
"Cht" lightning mumbled something fang couldn´t really catch up "she send you then?"
"What? No, I was already planning to come here and take over the job. But when she entered the canteen and started asking about the poor fellow that hadn´t come back from the hellhound job… I had to do something or else everyone would know there was a job opening." Fang may be harsh to the persons she considered competition but she was honest at least.
"I see" said lightning. A minute or two went by before she said anything at all. The demon slayer´s eyes pierced fang´s soul, unnerving her "what do you know then?" She asked finally "about the job."
'Really, what makes her think I will share my info with her?' The thought to protest crossed fang´s mind but those ice cold blue eyes made her reconsider. "I was told you left town… what? Twelve days ago now, if I'm not mistaken…"
"Is being that long?" lightning interrupted, surprised to hear the news from fang.
"Yeah, and well after eight days not having heard from you they assumed you were dead by then. I was told the job wasn´t a difficult one, just a hellhound infestation. After hearing that I agreed with them you were probably done for so I took the job. Came here expecting just an oversized hellhound pack but finding instead…"
"A dark forest plagued with banshees" finished lightning. "I had the same experience. Only thing is, I had no help. You could say it was sheer luck I stumbled upon this cave." She paused, turned her head to look at her horse then to fang again.
"Correct me if I´m wrong. You went north of town. Waited for the hellhounds to appear. But just as you were near killing all of them, the remaining group fled to the forest. And when you catch up with them your horse won´t go in no matter what. So you enter alone, finding complete silence and no sign of the hellhounds as if they were never there. The as you went further into the forest it became darker and darker. A single banshee screamed in the distance making you dive for cover. It keeps getting near to you with each minute until it finds you. The temperature drops and fear falls heavy, freezing you. Taking a hold so strong you could only think of running."
Fang´s face was one of utter disbelieve. She had described what happened to her with terrifying precision. "What? How?"
"At first I couldn´t understand it myself" lightning laughed drily. "Each time I went into the forest the same thing happened. Uncontrollable fear, hundreds of banshees, but not a single hellhound in sight. And for some strange reason it all stopped as soon as I put foot inside the cave." Fang watched her not saying a single word, her brain going a mile a minute trying process all this new information "Add the reluctance of our horses to enter the forest but somewhat being okay staying here despite being just meters away from it. Saying I was going crazy is an understatement."
"How did you figure it out? The warlock thing I mean."
"I found this by chance" lightning passed fang a worn out journal bound with black leather that had seen better days. "I was escaping from the banshees yet again when I tripped over a particularly big root. I fell to the ground and felt my hand touch it. Couldn´t really do much more than just grab the journal and run as fast as my legs were willing to take me. When I made it to the cave I sat down and skimmed over its contents. Most pages had fade away but the ones still intact told me everything I needed to know." She waited for fang to check the journal.
Fang turned a few pages and touched the leather but did not read it "Don´t keep me waiting, I´m not reading the damn thing so tell me what you found." She smiled, the first real one she had made in the last few hours since she entered this nightmare.
"It belonged to a white mage send to exorcize the forest from a vengeful spirit. His last entry was a warning… [To whoever is reading this journal, I warn you of the terrible evil that wanders this forest. It is my job to exorcize this evil spirit but if anything happens to me then it´s most probable that I had now become a warlock. Run fast, run far, under no circumstances approach this forest.] That is the last thing he wrote."
"Damn, a warlock? Not a wonder you didn´t went back during the planned time frame." Fang took her hand to her temple, closing her eyes "shit! This is in a completely different level from a simple hellhound infestation." Fang looked at lightning, she could only imagine how harsh it had been for her. Going inside the forest again and again to have the same results each time. "When did you find the journal?"
"Just yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to approach this problem when your horse wandered in."
"You crazy or what!? They hired you to kill hellhounds no to exorcize an evil spirit." This was unbelievable if it had been fang on the demon slayer´s shoes she would have hightailed after finding the cave for the first time. An army of banshees was enough to guess something was wrong with the forest.
"As you say I was hired to exterminate the pack. But for some strange reason they would completely disappear the moment they entered the forest. Doesn´t the job includes to hunt every single one of them? Even the ones that scape? I don´t know about you but I don´t leave a job half done."
"Hey!" fang jumped, her pride hurt with lightning´s words "I always finish what I start if you must know" said her almost shouting "but I guess you are right. So how are we going to finish this?" she was reluctant to admit the demon slayer was right but being stubborn wasn´t going to fix anything. She needed to change the bad image she just gave lightning about her and the only thing to do that was cooperating to get out of this mess.
"We?" asked lightning surprised "I thought you wanted to hightail out of here."
"Yes, we. And erase that smug smile from your face sunshine it doesn´t suit you." The demon slayer looked at fang, asking silently about her new nickname. "Because of your sunny disposition. Do you have a plan or not?"
She gave her a suspicious look, unsure whether to feel insulted or not. "Well… the obvious thing to do would be to find the warlock and exorcize the evil spirit. But I haven´t had an encounter with him after all my incursions nor heard him walk around. Which let me to believe…"
"HE IS HIDING BEHIND AN ILLUSION! That sneaky bastard."
"At least you are clever" fang only glared not wanting to start an unnecessary fight "if he is using an illusion to hide then nothing stops him from doing the same to create banshees out of nowhere, darkening the forest or manipulating our sense of danger making us feel terrified for something that isn´t eve real."
Fang froze at this line of thought, fighting real banshees was a pain but something completely possible. How do you defend from an illusion? "Crap, which means I wasted good ammo on nonexistent banshees." Her disappointed didn´t last long "hey, what about the hellhounds?"
"I´m sure the ones I killed back in the plain were completely real, my gunblade would have gone through them otherwise. Did one of your bullets failed to touch them?"
"No, the moment my bullets touched them they were send back to hell. Even bahamut landed a few kicks on them, with the help of special horseshoes of course but you know what I mean."
Lightning sighed, any more thinking and her head was going to explode, and she was already feeling a weak throb. "We can figure out what is going on with the hellhounds later, we can´t do much until the warlock is gone. For all we know they could have been invoked by the warlock or just been using his illusion to hide as well."
"How are we going to defend ourselves then?" fang was no mage and the little she knew wasn´t enough to fight back a warlock, this was definitely way out of her league. 'Should have brought vanille' she now regretted not accepting the red head´s help.
"I´m no expert, but know enough spells to surprise that warlock. I may be able to cast something that could give us a little protection."
Fang didn´t like that. "May? Could? Those words aren´t assuring at all sister."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" lightning crossed her arms in front of her, frustration clearly showing on her face.
"I don´t know. Don´t you have a spell that can find where the warlock is?" It was a random idea but to fang it sounded better than just going in blindly with maybe a little protection.
"A searching spell?" asked lightning more to herself than directing the question to fang 'this could work, we actually may be able to pull it off.' "If I cast a brave spell on us the banshee´s screams should not have effect, I don´t know if they have any other means to attack apart from tampering with our emotions, a cloaking spell may be useful as well."
This was more like the plan fang was expecting from the demon slayer 'now is our turn to attack, I might be able to collect my money after all.' She smiled standing up, it was time to get ready.
While fang checked all her weapons were charged and the extra ammo in the right pouch, lightning packed her things leaving everything ready so she could just put the saddle on top of Odin and ride away. And once they were ready, lightning walked to the forest´s entrance stopping just before stepping outside.
Fang was curious. She had never worked alongside a demon slayer and wanted to see how she would cast the spells. 'Slash that, I have never worked with someone else, except for vanille. But the little sister doesn´t count.' "How do demon slayers cast spells? My sister is a charmer and let me clarify, I´m not talking about her looks or personality. She chants in order to cast the spell."
"I know what you are talking about." A little smile appeared on her face for the briefest of moments, her own sister was a charmer too.
'Was that a smile?'
"It depends of the spell, at least for me, I can´t speak for others demon slayers. My master is the only one I have met and he was more of a warmage than a demon slayer." She drew on the ground using the tip of her gunblade, the figure was a small circle with a symbol that fang didn´t recognize. "The searching spell requires me to draw this symbol that becomes a kind of door, you could say it´s similar too summoning. Then I just have to focus on what I want to do and use my hand to hide the magic" lightning did exactly that. Closed eyes, hand pointed at the symbol on the ground. Fang could see a thread of blue light travel from one to another bringing life to the symbol. It now was a source of a faint purple light that turned around like a vortex and almost immediately came out a little white creature with purple wings on his back and pig like appearance.
"Hello! I am mog your searching assistant, what would you like me to search for?" asked the winged creature.
Before answering him lightning took the palm of her hand to her chest and said something that fang couldn´t catch. Two orbs of light entered her body, making her shine for a few seconds before returning to normal. Then her hand moved to face fang the two orbs going now into her body. She felt the urge to close her eyes but ignored it not wanting to look scared in front of her temporary working partner.
"Should I feel any different?"
"Not really, maybe just a bit more energized, courtesy of the brave spell. But other than that nothing else." "Mog" she called "We need you to search for the darkest entity in this forest."
He closed his eyes "Yes, I can feel it´s power, a warlock hides here. Do you want me to take you to him kupo?"
"Yes!" both fang and lightning exclaimed.
"Then follow me kupo!" he flew out the cave fast. Giving them little time to react, thankfully the clearing outside gave them the opportunity to catch up before losing him to the dense foliage. Neither spoke of what really was on their minds. What were they going to do with the payment? Now was not the moment, they would have to think of something if they survived the night.
Mog moved with ease, as if the darkness wasn´t a problem to him. Maybe he had night vision? Fang would have to ask him about that later. But luckily it brought to her mind something she hadn´t thought about and neither her partner. "Hey sunshine!"
Lightning glare at her "Don´t call me that" she answered irritated by the nickname. "What do you want?"
Fang took no offense, she simply smirked at her "What are we going to do with the lack of light?
Lightning looked back at mog, thinking what to do. "You could shoot that shotgun of yours" she pointed at the dense foliage over their heads "while I distract him."
Fang followed her finger and looked at all the heavy branches stopping the moon light. Her shotgun could easily handle it. Taking the special ammo out of her pouch she loaded the weapon that had been resting on her back. It made an unmistakable click once the bullets slide down the chamber 'I love that sound.' "Leave it to me, just be careful with the outcome. I don´t know how much of the branches will be left to fall on top of our heads."
The smile on fangs face made lightning reconsider the plan. She seemed to be looking forward for the outcome of shooting off a few branches. Whether she was expecting something good or borderline disastrous wasn´t something lightning wanted to know for the moment.
"We are almost there kupo. After the next bushes we will be coming out to a clearing. That is the warlock´s location."
They broke out the foliage. Lightning stopping just mere seconds to see a dark figure a good ten steps from them. She launched herself to the figure taking blazefire out and attacking with the blade. BANG! BANG! BANG! By the time she reached him fang had made three holes to the natural ceiling. Now she could see the enemy. He had blocked her slash using a sturdy looking staff. The hand grabbing it was slender with wrinkles all over its white complexion. Going up the arm was the sleeve of a very old, dark blue rob that had brownish spots all over it. The owner´s face had a hard expression on it, brows frowned, eyes glaring with anger. The old man´s hand pushed lightning back with such force she knew he was not human. The hairs on the back on her head stood on end.
BANG! BANG! BANG! "That should do the job." After making three more holes fang put away her shotgun "Now it´s your turn old gezeer!" She turned to face the warlock taking out her two revolvers. The first two shots made him step back from hitting lightning.
The warlock burst into laughter, mouth open guffawing. Body bend and eyes closed almost crying. "What… makes you think… you can defeat me?" he asked faltering to laugh between words. Lightning attacked. The warlock seriousness returned as he parried and then blocked fangs bullets. He had done it with such ease "here I have a gunslinger" he said with a tone of disdain then he pointed at lightning "and a good for nothing demon slayer incapable of breaking my illusion."
Lightning´s glare was ice cold "What did you just say?" You could see how hard it was for her to keep her temper under control. Her hand tightened her grip on blazefire and her feet moved to a better position to pounce.
The warlock was amused. To him lightning seemed as dangerous as an angry kitten, he could only laugh at the idea. "Sorry I guess you can´t help it. You still look young maybe the one I should be laughing at is your master for being an incompetent teacher."
"YOU!" she shouted in rage and sprang. Her attacks becoming erratic not a single thought behind them just raw emotion.
"Stop it you idiot! He is only provoking you."
Fang´s warning was ignored by the demon slayer who kept attacking. The warlock used his staff to parry every single one of them. He blocked, side stepped to readjust his position to block again but never had the need to get out of the way. The twentieth consecutive attack of lightning was finally returned by the warlock. Making her fly and crash with the trunk of a tree.
"Calm down! You are falling to his trap." Chastised fang.
But lightning only gave her a quick look and barely over a whisper said "he´s not using magic."
Thankfully it took fang a second to realize lightning wasn´t falling for it but the warlock was. 'She is playing the hurt and angry card.' BANG! BANG! BANG!
Now with the two attacking they had going a barrage of bullets and slashes that the warlock blocked and scarcely returned. Fang kept her distance going around the warlock to try and shoot from every direction possible while lightning changed between the blade and gun form of her weapon. She was more dynamic. Swapping the distance, angle and even force of the attack.
Not a single spell came from him. That confident he was of his power 'how sad' he thought 'is this all the new generations are capable of?' His arrogance blinded him from noticing how fang and lightning´s attacks became more synchronized. He also failed to see the red runes engraved on blazefire´s blade, and don´t make the assumption they were too small to see. For they were shining bright like hot coals.
This dance went on and before he even knew what had happen. In just a fraction of a second fang shot the staff moving it out of lightning´s way. The blow was fatal, stabbing right thru the heart, his eyes focused on the glaring red of the runes. He said nothing, not even a grunt came out of his mouth. The surprise has taken his voice.
"This gunblade was given to me by my master before dying. The runes cast away evil no matter how strong the link between them and this plane had become."
A black aura came out from the injury, surrounding both lightning and the body of the white mage. It became the source of a very strong wind that blew away everything around them including fang and mog.
"Kupopopo!" Mog landed on top of a three and fang´s back was slammed into a trunk.
The warlock roared like a beast, the creepy aura taking the form of a malevolent face while going up into the starry sky. "I will have my revenge!" said the face as a final threat before disappearing.
A good kind of silence fell all over the forest and the darkness finally pulled back. The banshees left with the evil spirit but in their place were now all the hellhounds that had escaped both lightning and fang. They had come out of the frying pan into the fire.
All the missing hellhounds were in the clearing dossing off under the cover of the warlock´s illusion. Now that they could see their company they jolted awake. They growled, fang growled back, lightning just took her fighting stance. Both hunters jumped into action. BANG! BANG! BANG! They fought till the sun came out.
"That was a long and tiring night. Don´t you think so sunshine?" with the last of the hellhounds dead they could now return to Odin and Bahamut to the cave.
"Don´t call me that." Lightning said halfheartedly
"Oh come on, don´t be so harsh I know you like the nickname." Fang got on top of bahamut giving him a pat and winking at him "she acts like he doesn´t" she murmured to him.
"Do you want me to slash your throat?" she shot her the icy glare.
"Alright, alright, you win." Fang took her hands up she needed to be alive to claim the payment.
"Good, now take the lead. We still need to retrieve your things before going back to town."
Fang gave a soft pull to bahamut´s reins. The dark stallion started walking at a light pace. "Ooooh! How sweet, you do care about me." Lightning only rolled her eyes and focused on following her. Fang smiled, the demon slayer was growing on her. Besides she wasn´t that bad of a hunting partner. "Being serious, you are good at what you do. Not bad as a partner either. What do say we partner up lightning?" fang peered and then as not to seem like a big softy, added "we could take on more complicated jobs that way and earn a bigger sum of money that what we will get now."
Lightning looked at her, expecting a teasing smile on the gunslinger face. Surprisingly she was only met by complete seriousness. Her gaze turned the other way "call me light."
Fang would have pouted for the lack of a real answer to her question but the small smile on lightning´s face told her that was as close of a yes she was going to get. For now.
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Alternative Beginning 1
"Please, tell us you can get rid of the hellhounds."
"Shouldn´t take me much, have my money ready, by morning I will have exterminated your problem."
The villagers looked at each other somewhat nervous. They had lost half of the towns people to this problem how the demon slayer called it. And hearing this pink haired woman talk so nonchalantly about the demons made them feel insecure. Did she even know what she was fighting against? Without waiting for a response said woman left the town´s hall to do her job.
According to the sightings, the most part of the attacks occurred out of town to the north. In the plain that was just between the town and a dark wood forest that was said to be haunted. Knowing this was the best place to start the demon slayer placed herself there and started her long watch. Sitting herself and resting her back against a post of a fence, the woman saw the last remnants of the afternoon light disappear and let the stars take over the dark blue sky. With the last rays of sunlight gone the plain started to shine with the random orange flashes the hellhounds made when appearing.
"One, two, and three …" the woman started counting each new enemy while standing up and drawing her weapon. "This is going to be a busy night."
Alternative Beginning 2
"What are we going to do?" yelled Harry´s wife "They have eaten half of our herd. At this rate they will start eating us."
"If they hadn´t started already. Heard on of Joseph´s sons is missing."
"Calm down everyone." The town´s chief made his voice as louder as he could to be heard over all the farmer´s and town´s people noise "If we are smarter we can win against this beasts."
Unsure murmurs were made among them, buts and what ifs resonating in the hall´s walls.
"No one goes out after sunset, those who can put their animals indoors do it. Those who can´t, kill them and dry their meat."
"KILL THEM!?"
"It´s either that or giving them to those hounds from hell. If we take away anything they could eat they will have no option but go away and pester some other town."
Fools they were, it only took a month for the dog demons to kill half of them. By that time they were sure to be doomed. No one dare to go out after sunset, let alone make the two day trek to the neighboring town to ask for help. Just as all hope had been thought to be lost a lone farmer came forward. None of his family remained. He took his old horse and with the few provisions that the rest of the town could spare, set off two towns away in search for a demon slayer.
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Revised 11/august/14: Thank you to Avienda for pointing out that BIG hole in the story. Revision never ends, make this a lesson for you guys as well.