Chapter 2- A Prophet's warning
Considering the high activity going on the DCEC I wasn't surprise to find that they had called me at 5:00 AM in the morning, regarding the craft I had brought in.

Typical they seemed to enjoy depriving me of my sleep.

I had taken a quick cold shower which took a lot of will power and managed to creep out of the apartment as not to wake up Jajuka. In all honesty I was surprised I had made it that far considering Jajuka's incredible hearing but none the less I managed to leave the apartment undetected.

So for the second time that night I left my apartment for the job that nobody really wanted to do.

The DC headquarters was swarming with my fellow associates. Some were hunters, others were researchers and informers, either way we all were working for the same cause; a cause that wasn't an easy task to achieve.

Taking a deep sip of my herbal tea I gave myself a few moments, feeling the warm liquid creep down my esophagus before walking to my station to check in.

That's when I accidentally bumped into someone.

Turning around I gave the person a glare as it was far too early in the morning and I wasn't exactly in the best of moods. My features automatically softened as I met up with a pair of intense maroon eyes hidden beneath raven locks.

"Sorry Celena," Van mumbled, like me he wasn't eager to be up so early.

Granting him a nod as my way of forgiveness I made my way back to my station. However that didn't stop me from thinking about Van. He had always been the mysterious type, driving himself to work beyond what was expected, which added value to his workmanship for the DC. He barely spoke to anyone during his time here and when he did he was always reluctant to. I had worked with him on a few hunts and although they weren't uncomfortable both of us were always eager to go our separate ways. There was one thing I was sure of though. Van hated my brother for reasons that went too personal for both macho egos to stand.

Shifting my gaze upward I saw the exact reason of both men's mutual rivalry. There standing with a cup of coffee in one hand wearing baggy black pants and a white shirt that revealed a curvous figure was Hitomi Kanzaki. There were many people in the DC who said the resemblance between us was highly uncanny. I chose to disagree. Her hair was a darker shade of honey, while mine was so blonde it could've been mistaken as white; and while her hair was straight, my had a slight curl. However both of our hairs had been cut in the same short boyish fashion. There was also the matter of our eyes, her's were a light forest green and mine were a fair navy blue.

Of course I had no bitter feelings towards the girl, she was sweet. However I did think that she was too fickle for my taste; she took six months to choose between Van and my brother, Allen.

"Hey Celena," she replied happily, but I could still detect uneasiness in her voice. Hitomi wasn't the kind to hide her feeling very well and it was always clear that my silenced unnerved her. How else was I to act? She did reject my brother after all.

Forcing a smile I calmly walked past her and entered my station.

I swear I almost fell once I looked at the pile of papers that lay on my desk. Raising my head I saw Mr. Jackal who had become known as 'Moleman' snickering in his cubicle.

So that was why I had gotten called down.

There was nothing that I could do but roll my sleeves and get to work.

As I looked at the gruesome pictures of Alzarand's lactated neck, Dilandau's face automatically appeared in my mind. His image was accompanied by Jajuka's accusations.

"He's a dangerous creature,"

I took a sip of my tea. My navy blue eyes staring straight ahead as I recalled how his fangs had grazed less than an inch from my neck. As an agent or, more importantly, an exterminator it was my duty to eliminate the threat. Had anyone ordered me to fulfill the death of Albatou when I first began at the tender age of fifteen I would have done it without question. My hatred for the creatures of the night was that strong, and the scars that had been done, went far too deep too heal.

However…Albatou…

The first time we had met it was during a hunt. I was barely sixteen years old, and had my mind so set on killing the enemy that there wasn't anytime for boys

Albatou was the target. He brought down my comrades barely breaking a sweat, until I was the last one left. We fought, I lost.

And when I thought that my life was surely going to end, he had licked my bottom lip in such a provocative way that in spite of myself, I blushed from head to toe. That was before I sent a bullet through the centre of his abdomen. I would be lying if I were to say that I still didn't think he had it in him too kill me. There was so much hatred in both our eyes that death seemed to be the only likely ending. I laid there for about ten minutes, sprawled under his body with the rain pouring down on us, mixing both our bloods and washing away the blood of my comrades. Despite the arguments saying that any women would have lost their mind by then, I remained fairly calm. I was prepared to die; I had been prepared to die ever since I started exterminating against my brother's will. He seemed to sense this, and despite the agonizing pain he must have been in he asked me.

"Would you accept immorality by my side?"

I had felt so sick in my stomach. The murder of my comrades, my friends had the audaciously to ask something of that of me. I did what I felt was necessary.

I spat on him.

All thoughts I had of escaping then were gone, until he simply smirked before taking my lips into his despite my protesting ie.biting and scratching. He left after that, but not before he said those three words that would hunt me forever.

My lips moved

"Till next midnight"

"Hey," I failed to jump as a pair of hands came down on my shoulders.

Turning around I saw Gaddess smiling at me. He was wearing his favorite green hoody and a pair of dark jeans. My eyes move to his short cropped hair which I notice he failed to come. I automatically scowl at the site of his jaw line. He had forgotten to shave, again.

Gaddess didn't seem to notice my scrutiny as he cheerfully asks.

"How long did you know I was behind you?"

"Five minutes ago."

I watch as Gaddess snapped his fingers, all while chuckling. To my satisfaction, he ended up choking on his own god-damn spit and began having coughing fits before me. I, of course, remained stoic watching him with what I believe an evil smirk until he finally relieved himself of the spit that had nearly taken his life.

"How are you?" I replied, inwardly laughing my head off at the death glare Gaddess gave me.

However as much as Gaddess probably wanted to wipe my smirk off my face, he couldn't help but smile. Before I was able to twist his arm off, he did one of those habits that drove me up the wall. Rubbing my head, Gaddess matted up my hair. Not that it really mattered, I almost never combed my hair because of its short length; but I did hate how he still treated me like a puppy, or more importantly the kid-sister of one of his oldest friends.

Gritting my teeth I immediately swatted his hand away from my hair, while delivering a punch to his lower abdomen. My fist met solid rock and in the end I was the one who got hurt.

Who was he to think that he could treat me like a child? His girlfriend is younger than me for god's sake.

I thought to myself as I bit my lower lip, determined not to show the agony that spiraled up my arm.

Looking up I saw Gaddess still smiling "You know being sick and all isn't fun?"

"You sick is like my brother being faithful," I scoffed tearing my gaze to the pile of papers that loomed over my desk. Inwardly I groaned, all the time I wasted talking to Gaddess could've been spent to diminishing my workload.

"That's hardly fair." Gaddess protested "I have somewhat of a fever,"

He paused to look at something over my cubicle wall "As for the Allen comment, I think you stand correct."

Raising an eyebrow, I accepted Gaddess hand as he faced me in the direction where he had been previously been looking.

There, coming out of an office surrounded by glass windows and dingy grey blinds was no one other than my brother and three blondes. All of them beautiful beyond words, even Gaddess had a difficult time tearing his gaze away from them and he was one of the most loyalist and pickiest man I had ever come to know. The first two both had curly hair and bright sparkling eyes. However one of them seemed to have a mature glow as evident by her three inch pumps and straight cut skirt that reached below her knees, complimented with a black satin shirt with buttons on the front. It seemed that every time she would smile, her entire face was preparing to crack. The other girl was obviously the youngest as shown by her clothes. Short black skirt that barely reached mid-thigh, high hooker looking boots and a white shirt that was one button from bursting and resulting in her flashing the entire world. The third girl seemed the most intriguing and more serious, but I immediately recognized that small crescent at the side of her small rose-budded lips. It was the same smile I had seen many women present before my brother. Furrowing my brows, I decided that out of the other three, she was the most conservative and thus less likely to act upon her sexuality. Her hair was extremely straight, almost like a board, and opposed to a skirt she wore black dress pants that revealed the lengthiness of her legs and a fairly simple satin black shirt.

"Those are the Aston sister's I believe," Gaddess replied, disrupting my thoughts. "Their father is the co-founder of the DCEC, but rumor has it that each daughter will be receiving a fair share of the company soon enough."

"New management," I was back to my none conversationalist form of speaking. Gaddess didn't seem to notice much, but then again he had known me for years. He understood perfectly that any additional effort of carrying on a conversation was always going to be done by the other party. I just didn't care much for others to care.

"Yes, starting next week." He creeps closer to my ear to prevent eavesdropping from Mr. Jackal who was looking at us suspiciously "The one with the pumps and ringlets is Marlene; she's twenty four I believe. The one with the straight hair is Eras, twenty two looks older though,"

It was as though Gaddess was reading my thoughts

"The last one is Marlena, she's the youngest."

And obviously the wildest I thought "I think she's the same age as you and Hitomi."

Without saying anything I went back to my chair to begin my paper work, leaving Gaddess to stare at me with puzzlement.

"Doesn't that excite you?" he asked. I simply shrugged

"I thought that you being a girl, you would be excited to have some new co-workers to hang out with."

Despite my protests I felt my tender lips move. "Hang out."

The words seemed so foreign that I was hardly able to catch a grasp of their comprehension. True, I was nineteen and girl's my age should do things such as this 'hang out', but I was hardly amused by the thought of wasting my time with a girl who seemed like an airy bubble head flaunting her body to every male that was presented to her. Why would I want the trouble? I had difficulty enough as it is trying to ward off all males of the department. Despite Gaddess and Allen's reassurance that I was truly 'a dish' I hardly took them seriously. Whenever I looked in the mirror I saw an exact replica of my mother; same chiseled cheeks and delicate nose accompanied by plump rose pink lips; overall, the very definition of beauty. However to me I was the most hideous thing on the planet. People just seemed to have a hard time grasping that, especially males who just didn't seem to want to leave me alone.

Sensing that I wasn't going to speak anymore, Gaddes turned to leave.

"Merle says hello, by the way." I nodded and soon I was alone in my cubicle.

My eyes darted to the picture of the team on the corner of my desk. There conspicuously captured in the center of the photograph were Gaddes and a pink haired girl whose ears seemed abnormally pointed. Merle, the youngest sister of Van Fanel, who was tragically kidnapped a few crazed scientists that wanted to test out the genetic combining of human DNA with animals; very much the same procedure that Jajuka had underwent. Fortunately Merle had been rescued before the procedure was completed. That didn't change the fact that she now had acute agile movements and possessed the grace of any feline and not to mention the temper. I smiled to myself. Merle was always a bit possessive over her older brother and as a result she and Hitomi always were at each other's throats. As a spectator it was interesting to watch Merle jacking some of Hitomi's belongings when she wasn't looking.

I tore my gaze away from the picture before looking around once more to ensure that no one else was watching. Satisfied, I quickly fumbled the lock on my lowest drawer to open a case of old files. Buried at the bottom of them was the one file that held the only preservation of his face during the day.

Gingerly I rubbed my fingers over the picture's glossy surface as though I was afraid of damaging it. The picture had been taken by a special camera designed to capture images of vampires where it would be otherwise impossible. Unfortunately the photographer of this photo was now dead. Not by my vampire's hand but his master who had wanted to preserve his protection. Albatou's master was later hunted and killed by my brother's hand. Reeden was a good friend of the family and was Gaddes family; it was only fair that his life would be avenged by hunting the one who had killed him.

I stared at his face a little bit longer before I set it in the drawer. When I looked up I saw Hitomi at my door. Her face pale like snow, hardly enough to frighten me out of my wits; I was an exterminator. It was her eyes that hit the home run. They were rolled back, appearing almost white.

I couldn't help but freeze as window from a nearby light had come in the from a nearby window, setting her aglow.

What happened next I would never forget? Her voice was raw and deep as a foreign language unknown to my ears rolled off her tongue and spilled into the air. A single sentence repeated over and over again, getting louder with each repetition until the entire office was silent.

"Ut diabolus verum futurus Crucio mos reverto iterum. key vadum exsisto unleashed quod abyssus mos reign. caveo spawn of inconcessus diligo."

Next thing I knew Van was at her side to catch her as her premonitions ended. Allen all the while glaring at him as he did so. Many people were mumbling names only to be silenced by Van's death glare. Mr. Jackal didn't seem a bit fazed by the whole incident.

Finally Van's eyes settled on my wide azure ones. They softened a bit as he replied "Sorry, she's been acting like that all week."

I gulped and nodded as I watched him lift Hitomi bridle style and carried her to the nearest elevator most likely heading for the infirmary downstairs.

I continued to stare at the elevator even when Van and Hitomi vanished from my view. Even when my brother came over to lay a comforting hand on my shoulder, I never forget her words.

Crucio meant 'I torture' in Latin, name belonging to one of the many spawns of the devil, the most powerful vampire..