1.

"Wow… not many female hunters come in here. Almost all of them are guys."

"Not surprising. It's a tough job." The dark haired girl commented before taking another swig of her beverage. The blond nodded and leaned in closer.

"So, what kinds of creatures do you hunt? I mean, some hunters specialize in some creatures while others just… dabble in a bit of everything." She asked with a flip of her hair, and got so close that the other could smell her mint-scented breath.

"For a while I only hunted vampires… but those are pretty much gone."

"Why those?"

"Killed someone close to me. I've tried to hunt down one specifically, but he's either dead or hiding."

"Do you know what his name was?"

"Cory Desmark. He was turned when he was twenty-four in 1924 in Birmingham, Alabama. Whoever turned him also turned his girlfriend, and they were an item for some odd years until a hunter killed her. He killed the hunter some time after dat. I don't have any current information on him, though." She said with a sigh, and the blond smiled suddenly.

"Hey, you know what? I know someone that hunts vampires, and he probably knows him."

"Who? I've talked to a lot of hunters." She asked warily, and blushed when the girl leaned in close and brushed her lips against her ear. The blush deepened when she happened a glance at her cleavage.

"I'll tell you if you let me come with you."

"… what?"

"I'm a great hunter, but hunters usually work best in pairs. I need someone to teach me more about hunting, but my mom won't let me."

"Whose this hunter you're talking about? The one that knows Desmark?"

"I'll tell you his name if you let me go with you on your next hunt. I promise I won't be a bother, just please, please, let me go with you. I'll pay for all my stuff, I have my own weapons- I even have my own journal."

"How old are you?"

"… twenty-one. How old are you?" She countered, and the dark haired woman looked down at her beverage and silently thought for a moment.

"Twenty-six…" She muttered. "How long has this hunter been hunting?"

"Years. He's a damn good hunter."

"It's not Gildtrude?"

"Nope. Didn't he pass away a couple years ago?" Jo asked, and the other nodded. The blond bit her lower lip and moved a couple inches away to give her space. She was still close, but as she sat there with her palm against her chin and elbow on the table, she couldn't help but smile. The female hunter picked up the bottle and took another swig of it.

"The person you're telling me about better be a damn good source, or else you will regret it. Does your mother know you want to go scallabanting off to hunt some ghosts?"

"When do we leave?"

"That's not an answer.… I still need to get a car. Call me in a couple days and meet somewhere… not here. Out of town preferably."

"What, are you afraid of my mom?" She asked, and the hunter shook her head.

"No… but my uncle told me about her. So no, 'm not scared of her, I'm terrified." She corrected. The blond rolled her eyes.

2.

That night Jin Ai groaned as she fell onto the bed, and heaved a heavy sigh. She lay sprawled on the sheets for some time, just staring at the ceiling, and eventually kicked off her shoes. "I shouldn't have agreed to that. This will end up two ways. Number one: We sleep together, then she kills me. Number two: we sleep together, I kill her."

She stretched and reached for her phone that lay idly on the bedside table, to call her uncle Jay and tell him what happened, but she couldn't reach. When her fingers failed to grasp the small plastic device, she sided with the idea of calling him later, and not bother moving her sore limbs further to get it.

She knew she would have to move anyway, though, to get the game over with, but the idea of moving other parts of her body maybe two inches was still unsettling and disturbing. Oh the horror of moving two inches to the left. Oh the horror.

"If my arm wasn't in this sling… nah, I still wouldn't get it."

3.

"This is so cool!" Jo said for the tenth time in the last hour, and the older woman rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. This isn't a field trip, you know. I'm not going to treat you like a kid, you're an actual hunter. If you fuck up, it's your problem, not mine. Now look through the newspaper and see what kind of jobs are open." She said as she tossed a newspaper from the previous day to her. Her eyes stayed on the busy road as she navigated out of the busy city, rain pattering on the windshield and obstructing her vision. The new used car, a silver SUV Hybrid, was much larger than her last car and more difficult to use- she was terrified of accidentally running over some of the little cars running about, such as a little Volvo just ahead of her going 20 miles under the speed limit.

"I know, I know, okay." She said as she opened the paper she'd been handed and started sifting through it. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she sported a leather jacket with jeans. For comfort or for style, the older woman had no idea.

"I circled some possibilities. Haunting over in Connecticut, strange murders in Wyoming, strange occurrences and sightings in Rode Island, and a few softer ones. I personally like to go for left overs."

"Go for what?"

"The cases that either other hunters give up on, get killed on, or don't even show up on most hunter's radars. I talked to my uncle yesterday, who said that a couple of hunters went up to Wyoming for the murders, but only added up the body count. That's something I usually go for." She explained, and tapped her fingers against the unfamiliar steering wheel. It was leather, not plastic. "Would you be up for that, or go for something less dangerous?" Jin Ai already knew the answer to her question, but it didn't stop her from asking. They were already on the road to Colter Bay Village, and the new little hunter wanted to kill something.

4.

"We can take shifts, if you want. We don't have to stay here for the night. I can drive for a while." Jo insisted as the dark haired girl smiled at the man behind the counter and asked for a room. "The more time we waste the more people get hurt."

"Are you two spies or something? Lesbians off to save the world or something?" The pimple faced teenager asked as he handed Jin Ai a room key, perverted ideas running through his tiny little brain. Jo flipped him the bird while the other woman just rolled her eyes and left. The blond had half a mind to tell him off, but was dragged away by the wrist.

"That guy was a creep."

"You act like you've never been in a straight bar."

"I don't pick up many women in bars, surprisingly."

"Really? That is surprising." The other commented, not paying attention anymore and focused more on getting to their room to take a nice hot shower. A nice long one. With their backpacks already strung onto their shoulders, they reached their room, '06', and walked in. Jo was still talking.

"… my mom always thought it was a phase and whatnot, and I do like guys and all, but girls are so much cooler, you know? And I mean, women are amazing, and men are just-" Before she could ramble off more random bits of her life, Jin reached her hand to the back of the girl's neck and pulled her head down to her own in a kiss. After a moment, Jin pulled away, shut the door, and threw her pack onto one of the twin sized beds.

Jo stayed quiet as she watched her move around the room; closing the curtains, put a few charms near the door and window, get a few things out of her bag. Eventually she looked up at the blond, who just stood there watching, and smiled.

"Relax. Get some sleep, and we'll be leaving early in the morning. I'm going to take a shower and then run to the store to get some food for when we get there, since they won't have any food and any food we buy there will be crazy expensive." She explained, and when the girl nodded in comprehension, she walked over to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Jo stood there a moment, staring at the bathroom door and wondering whether or not to go in. She had seduced the woman into letting her come along for the trip, after all. When she heard the water start running, however, she just shrugged and dumped her bag on the floor, turned and flopped onto the other bed. She kicked her shoes off and laced her hands together behind her head. As she stared at the ceiling, her thoughts wandered to the hunt, and the idea of finally going on an adventure caused her to smile.

5.

"Where were you?" the blond asked as she took the coffee and scone off the little table. As she munched on it, she watched the woman walk straight for the bathroom. As she messed with some make up things- the door was open so they could see each other- she shrugged.

"Out and about."

"Cuz, you weren't back when I went to bed, and that was at about 2 AM, and I woke up at 6. It's 7 now… This is delicious." Jo explained as she nibbled at the food and gulped down the coffee.

"Darling Jo," she spoke as she applied mascara. "I am letting you hunt with me out of the compassion of my heart, and because you have information I need. Ask too many questions and I'll leave you here."

Jo didn't say anything. Jin Ai smiled smugly.

"The stores closed at about midnight, so after I got food and put them in the trunk, I went to see a movie. It's something I usually do before a hunt to cool down." She explained. After she was done in the bathroom she walked back into the main room to join the other female for breakfast. After they finished eating, which was surprisingly quiet, Jo went over to her bag and carried it to the bathroom.

A few seconds later a short scream was heard, and laughing erupted from Jin Ai. The blond stepped out of the bathroom with a little spring toy in her hand, threw it at her, and then walked back to the shower.

6.

"Wow, it's so beautiful here. Is this actually a hunt, or is it a date?" The blond asked as she stared out the window. The other chuckled.

"The most beautiful things are usually the most deadly." She commented, and the other fell silent as she stared out into the sunset that cast shadows and shades of purples and pinks along the horizon. Soon they turned off from the freeway and entered onto a little side road, the trees making the view of the sunset now impossible, and soon after turned onto a dirt road. "So, Jo, how gay are you?"

"What do you mean?" The blond asked, caught off guard.

"Are you bisexual or gay?"

"Bisexual."

"Darn." She commented, and Jo looked at her curiously.

"What, are you one of those-"

"No, no, I have a large suspicion that whatever we're hunting will use attractive men to get the better of us, like they used female hookers to get the other hunters." She explained as she tapped against the leather steering wheel, glancing to the pink cheeked girl and back to the road again.

"Just because I like guys, doesn't mean- God that guy is so cute! We have to buy some firewood later." She spoke, getting sidetracked by a man on the side of the road holding a sign saying 'firewood $10 a bundle'. He smiled and winked at the girls in the car as they drove past, and Jin Ai couldn't help but start laughing.

"That wasn't one of your finest moments, little Jo. Doesn't it strike you as suspicious that someone would be selling firewood in October? Who the hell goes camping in October?"

"I don't know… us? Maybe there's an event going on nearby and a bunch of people are camping?"

"We're not camping; we're staying in a cabin. Big difference."

"Whatever… last time I was here I was with my dad. It's a lot more colorful than I remember it."

"Probably because it's fall." Lai said with a chuckle, and the other punched her arm. "Hey! No hitting the driver!"

"No making fun of shotgun! It was October when I last came here, too!"

"Whatever." The older female concluded with a shrug, and chuckled when the other girl pouted and looked back out the window. As it got darker the driver turned on the head lights and turned on the radio. Immediately the blond started fussing about the kind of music –Kesha- and resulted in the dreadlocked woman turning the volume up to full blast and singing along with it.

This resulted in a fight that concluded with the rule of no music in the car.

7.

That night they went over the information surrounding the case extensively. In a way the older female just wanted let the blond run wild and get herself almost killed so that she would be less excited about the case. She might even want to leave her alone afterwards- Jin Ai wanted this so that she'd learn her lesson- but alas discovered too late that she had a soft spot for her. As much as she wanted to she couldn't help but give the blond little hints on how to hunt, how to avoid getting killed, how to do things the right way.

Not that this did any good. The blond ignored her advice for the most part. She was giddy, excited, and itching to kill something. (Her excitement having something to do with her dad, no doubt.) She listened to the basic information, but anything extra went in one ear and out the other.

The older woman sighed as she wrote down the information on the different pieces of paper and linked them all together. "It's… a wendigo, right?" Jo asked as she looked through her own skimpy little journal of supernatural creatures.

"… why does everyone always assume it's a Wendigo? They're really not that common."

"Then what is it?'

"Some kind of water sprite. A Kappa, Nixe, mutant water snake…. I think it's a Kappa." Jin Ai told her and mentally winced when the blond nodded and agreed. 'You're going to die, idiot. Based on this information it should be a Nix.' She thought to herself, and sighed again as she put away the pieces of information and got out her briefcase to retrieve information on Kappas. (Jin Ai can be a little full of herself, if you haven't been able to tell) Before the blond could get a good look at the information and realize that the other woman had put in wrong information, she was walking towards the fridge and humming an old tune.

"It's not like we're hunting it tonight, are we? You should relax a little." She says as she pulls open the door and searches through the stocked fridge for her soda. Jin Ai smiles and shakes her head, (a stupid hunter is a dead hunter) smiling as she gets a good view, and almost laughing when she realizes that she's swaying to the tune. After finding her soda, she walked over to the cd player on the other side of the room and turned it on to a radio station.

The other hunter shrugged as she organized the papers already out and waited for a good song to come on. Most of the stations were on commercial, but after a few seconds of static, Norah Jones' voice filled the small cabin. The blond smiled as she turned up the volume and danced over to the other female. She held out her hand.

"May I have this dance?" She asked, "Come away with me," she sang, and pulled at the woman's hand until she was standing. Jin Ai put her hands on the girl's hips and the other pulled her arms around her neck. They both slow danced to the tune, swaying back and forth, and quietly enjoyed each other's embrace.

A loud knocking at the door disturbed the peaceful dance, and both stepped away with a blush and slight frown. Jo skipped over to the door, Jin Ai cursing at how careless her movements were, and followed after her. She made sure her silver knife was in the back pocket of her jeans. At the door was a teenage boy; little younger than Jo, short curly brown hair, brown eyes, and almost glowing pale skin. He smiled to the two women, shirtless and hands in his pockets.

"Hi, I'm Branden." He greeted as he held out a hand, and both of them shook it.

"I'm Jo, this is-"

"Haley." The other interrupted. "Nice to meet you."

"And to you too. I just wanted to say that if you need anything fixed, yard work done, wood chopped, I'm just down the road and trying to earn money for college." He said, and as he spoke, Jin Ai noticed that the hem of his pants were wet.

"If we need any help, we'll be sure to give a call." Jo said with a cute smile and nervous glance at her shoes.

"Okay. Well, I'll see you two around. Night." He said, and left the pair staring back.

"I see why the other hunters were caught off-guard."

8.

"Come away with me…" Jin Ai hummed as they hiked along the lake's edge. She was pleasantly surprised when she found out that Jo wasn't squeamish around insects and could hike without trampling too many innocent ferns down in the process. She was, however, a big conversationalist- but she could look past that. So long as she can zip it when she needs to it's not a huge problem.

Judging by how little the trail was worn down, they both guessed that the trail wasn't very popular. This was the shorter one of the two- the other one went into the mountain and to more touristy sites- while this one stayed along the lake's edge and sometimes trailed into the water, forcing them to go alternative routes.

It was weird when they came across another couple walking along the path; both going the opposite direction. Jin Ai noticed that the hem of their pants were also wet, and although greeted them warmly as they passed, watched them closely.

9.

Later that day Jin Ai made the excuse to leave and left the female alone at the cabin. She was a little worried about the blond, but she needed information and couldn't get it with the little inquisitive hunter breathing down her neck. First she drove to the little store about a mile away, to get more soda for her alibi; then she drove into town and started asking around.

She was surprised at how many people had wet pants. As in, the bottoms of their pants… as in, the hem of their pants. Right.

It was Saturday evening, she guessed that it was as busy as it was going to get. The streets weren't full of people, but it was hardly scarce of human life. Something told her that most tourists were avoiding this vacation spot on the account that so many people had been drowned in the area. The dreadlocked woman noticed that there were two anomalies about this place; firstly, half the people had wet pants (it hadn't rained recently to her knowledge and the ground was dry), and secondly, everyone was coupled up aside from a few children.

After chatting with a young woman outside the pet store, about the recent murders and not getting much information, she went inside a little antique shop. Most of the things in there were junk: consisting of ancient broken clocks, and inch thick dust covering century old tacky-furniture. It was also insanely red- the walls and carpet were red- and brown ill decorated furniture. The only people inside were a young couple, looking to be in their twenties, and an old man looking to be in his eighties. As Jin Ai walked into the shop, all eyes went to her when the bell on the door rang. She smiled awkwardly and let them go back to whatever they were looking at.

She looked at their feet, closed the door behind her, and locked it. "Can I help you, miss?"

"You Nixes mind telling me what's going on here? Or do I have to kill one of you to get answers?" She asked with a smile and tilt of her head. All three of them stared at her, wide eyed like deer in head lights, but made no move to answer. "Here's the thing," She continued as she took a step closer to them. "I don't mind that a bunch of you are living here. I don't give a damn; however, I'm betting that one of your kind has gone insane, which isn't uncommon with supernatural creatures stuck in a human world. So who is it?"

"… It wasn't one of us!" The girl blurted as she gripped the purse strapped along her body and wrung it in her hands. The man at her stepped forward and extended an arm in front of her protectively.

"You hunters don't care if we're innocent or guilty, just different." The blond male hissed as his eyes shifted to a dark blue –much like a demon's eyes- color. "Just like the last ones that tried to kill our kin."

"So you killed them?" She asked, and waited patiently for an answer. When they didn't answer for several minutes, she shrugged and walked across the room to the other side to examine an old clock with blue glitter sprinkled on the side. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt for now and assume that was self-defense. Humans can be stupid creatures." She said with another shrug. "Especially hunters." The Nixes looked at her quizzically and watched her every move. The blond eyed the door that the hunter negligibly left open for their escape.

"What I want to know…" She went on. "Is why those other people were killed? Who or what killed them?"

"It wasn't one of us!"

"You mean a nix?"

"… yes."

"Then what was it?"

"We're not entirely sure."

The old man in the corner watched with large watery eyes as the pair conversed.

"Just so you know, I'm outnumbered and don't plan on harming any of you without cause. If you run out of here screaming I'll be dead in minutes. I just want to make my job easier by-"

"It wasn't one of us, but… I've heard rumors."

"Werewolf did it." The girl blurted.

"I heard it was a shapeshifter." The guy said.

"I also heard that it was a ghost."

"There was a museum opened a year ago, and there was a weird mummy-"

"No, it was a werewolf."

"Honey-"

"Will you two shut up? If you're trying to trick me, it won't work, only piss me off." Jin Ai stated as she started walking towards them. The male made to block the attack and protect his girlfriend, but it did no good as-

10.

Jin Ai was whistling on her way back to the cabin. Her thoughts ran through the information she had attained and started mentally filing everything. Subconsciously she reached up and fidgeted with the brown hat on her head while the other hand stayed firmly on the wheel. "Well, my theory is shot… but at least I know that it's not them… Kappas might just be what's killing them." She mused, and suddenly realized that without the other female in the car, she could blast the music all she wanted.

Victory.

11.

The dreadlocked woman gapped at the sight before her and dropped the keys in her hand. She blinked in surprise for several seconds before attempting to make a coherent sentence out of her incoherent babbles. "What… what the hell are you doing?" She asked, and after the words left her mouth she seemed to snap back into motion and closed the door behind her.

"Oh, hi honey." Jo said with a sarcastic smirk and hand on her hip- blade in her hand on her hip. "I caught a couple of nixes while you were away. I accidentally killed one of them, though, when he got too rowdy…" She said as she pointed at the two boys tied to two kitchen chairs. One of them was the man they saw the previous day on the side of the road, the one that holding up the sign, and the second one was the boy they met last night that lives next door. They both looked about the same age, short brown hair, and beautiful looks- they looked like brothers. Maybe twins.

And they were covered with bruises and cuts. Blood was dripping from the gapping wounds on their arms and pooling on the ground. One of them was staring at her with wide eyes and mumbling excitedly from behind the gag- he was the boy they met last night- while the other was staring at the ground. His head was limp.

Jin Ai looked back at Jo. Jo looked at her with a smile one might show after they completed a chore and expected praise from her mother. Or maybe an excited puppy that had tried to please her master.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Where the hell did you learn to hunt, the Redneck Special on Fox?" She asked the girl before running to the seemingly dead boy in the kitchen and pressing her fingers against his neck. Immediately after she untied him and laid him on the ground, in the process also removing the gag and, for the first time, noticing the gills and fins protruding from various parts of his body. "What happened?"

Jo stood motionless, just watching her partner loom over the boy.

"What happened!" She yelled again from her spot and effectively breaking the blond from her trance. The boy in the chair tried to say something.

"I punched him a few times." Jo answered with a shrug. "It's not like it's human." She carefully stepped around the blood pooling on the ground and stood by the counter with her arms crossed. Jin Ai quickly darted to the other boy and removed the gag.

"He has a blood disorder! He's bleeding internally!"

"Yeah right."

"I'm not lying you stupid bitch!" He yelled at the blond, causing her to walk forward- wanting to slit his throat- but then be pushed back by the girl.

"You're done 'ere, got it? Leave. You can't take my car, but go." She told the blond, bloody hands staining her shirt. "This is not how I hunt. I have a hard enough time dealing with you hunters' after meal messes I don't want to deal with them on my current hunts! Hitchhike for all I care, but just go!"

For a second the blond just stood there unmoving.

"Go!" The bloody girl repeated, and finally watched as the other stomped out of the kitchen and out the door.

"You're a hunter, too?" The boy in the chair asked, but then shook his head and looked at the boy on the ground. "We need to get him to the hospital."

"He barely has a pulse. She didn't kill him, but he's close." She said as she moved to cut the ropes bound to his wrists, but then paused. "I'm not a normal hunter like her. I just met her a week ago. She's new to the business. Can you promise not to attack me when I untie you? In you're condition you may not be able to drive safely."

"Yes I promise, just hurry!" And so she finished untying him and left him the knife in his hands to cut the rest of the ropes; in the meantime she went back to the boy on the ground and lifted him into her arms. She steadily walked towards the open door and to the car, which by that time the other brunette had cut himself free and helped get him into the car. She was relieved to know that he could walk after all that had happened.

Once they were both in the backseat she ran to the driver's seat, shifted into drive, and put the pedal to the metal as she raced down the driveway. On their way she saw the blond in the corner of her eye as they zoomed past her.

"What're your names?"

"… Branden."

"What's his name?"

"Jason. Try not to get us in a car crash, will ya?"

"My uncle's name is Jason…. How did she find out about you two?"

"How did you?"

"Your pants. I'm surprised at how many of you there are- I didn't realize there was an entire colony of Nixes hanging out in the open in Wyoming." She turned onto the road, causing the tires to skid on the dirt and cause a dust cloud to form as she raced down the road that led to the freeway.

"You hunters are all the same."

"If we were all the same we'd be in an entirely different situation right now."

"I'll bet you knew what she was doing and are only doing this to gain our trust! You want to kill us for what happened to your little hunter buddies two weeks ago!" He yelled at her, and then looked down at the face in his lap.

"Are you two brothers?"

"What's it to you?"

She shrugged. "You look a lot alike."

The teenager wiped away the blood dripping down his cheek.

12.

She had a lot of glaring faces to answer to after she got Jason and Branden to the hospital. She also got punched in the face a couple of times- leaving a couple of nasty colors brewing along her cheeks and busted lip.

The hunt was going fantastic if you couldn't tell.

She swore that if she ever saw a certain hunter again, she was going to wring that certain hunter's neck and toss her into the goddamn lake. After hours of being in the hospital, lying her ass off to policemen, and trying to talk to the local Nixes, and then on top of that almost breaking her phone from dropping it fifty times, hands fumbling whenever it rang and throwing it in a fit of rage, she was considering for the first time (okay, lie, but not wanting to this badly) to skip town and let the murders keep going on. It wasn't her fault Jo was an idiot and the stupid Nixes wanted her head on a plate, and honestly, she could do without being used as a punching bag.

Okay, the second part was her fault. It was her fault for bringing the stupid blond on the trip.

By the time she got home it was well past midnight and she was exhausted. If she wasn't hyped on caffeine- Pepsi- she would have collapsed on the queen sized bed in the bedroom and squandered off to sleep. As it was, she was walking around the small cabin, nibbling at her hair. After about ten minutes of calming down and assessing the situation, AKA the whole goddamn day, she walked over to the radio and turned it on.

"Come away with me… tonight."

She turned it off and grabbed her phone. She dialed the familiar number and pressed the plastic device against her ear. It rang.

And rang.

And rang.

And rang…. Eventually she gave up and closed it, then 'gently' dropped it on the counter.

The back broke off and the battery went flying to the ground.

She sighed.

There was a scream in the distance. Someone yelled her name. Immediately the knife on the counter was in her hand and the gun in her purse was in her jeans pocket; ten seconds later she was running out of the room and running madly through the woods. Her heart was skyrocketing and blood pumped so loudly she thought it was howling into the night air. If she was human she would have had to go back for a flashlight.

Another scream- this time closer and most definitely familiar. A little too familiar.

She came across a clearing that led to a boating dock, and at the shoreline near the dock, the faint shapes of two creatures hunched over in the water could be seen. As Jin Ai got closer she could hear gurgling and splashing in the water. As she got closer she could also tell which one wasn't human, seeing as it had large (some 4 feet) sticks protruding from its back.

Definitely not Nix.

"Hey!" She yelled when she was close enough to get a good shot with her 9 mm gun. When it turned towards the source of the sound, it stared into the darkness unable to see it, and jumped when it heard the gunshot. Its grip on the woman's hair- it had been holding her underwater- loosened and fell onto its back on dry land. Because its back was faced towards the ground the sticks held it up and allowed the dip in the back of its head to empty its contents. When the last of the water dripped from his head his body fell through its shell and sunk into the sticks.

Jin Ai ran into the water and pulled the young woman out. Once she was on land she started CPR.

"1… 2… 3." She parted her lips and breathed air into her lungs, and before she could go another round, the blond was spitting up water and gasping for breath. Jin Ai pulled her in close and silently cursed at herself for being so stupid. They were both soaked now, and shivering, but neither particularly cared at the moment.

13.

Author's Note: A couple of the creatures I talk about in this story can be seen on my Deviantart account. If you want to see some of my artwork of them, my account name is 'Swiftdragonfly'. The Kappa isn't exactly like I described, but it's kind of close. You can also get a little more information about them there….

That night Jo was cuddled up in a mountain of blankets while drinking warm tea. She was situated comfortably on the couch, her back (through the blankets) was against the other female's chest and her arms were around her. She felt safe.

Both of them were annoyed and felt like idiots.

"… my dad used to say that Nixes were evil. He put in his journal that no matter how nice they seemed, you had to kill them. No matter how-"

"Your dad sounds like a fool." The other commented cooly, and held down the blond when she tried to wrestle out of her grip. "Most hunters are, Jo."

"You're the fool! They-"

"You were attacked by a Kappa-"

"Most likely sent after me after what I did to the Nixes!"

"How do you expect them to not kill humans when we hate them like you do? If you say something is horrible and they're going to do something enough times, they'll do it."

"… They're not human."

"As long as they don't hurt humans, we don't have a problem. There's possibly hundreds of them in this state, Jo. We're outnumbered anyway. Just let it go." She said, and kissed the back of her head.

"But-"

"Will you shut up? Your rash and stupid actions are what got you nearly killed."

"It jumped me after you kicked me out."

"Because you were being stupid."

"… you're stupid."

"We're leaving tonight. It's your choice whether to come with me or not." She said as she removed her arms from around the young girl and moved from the couch. She stood and left the small living room to get her things.

The blond sat there, silently fuming, but suddenly realized that she'd crossed a certain line on this adventure. This wasn't her hunt- it was Jin Ai's. Whether or not she agreed with her ethics, she was only supposed to be along for the ride, not try and take the wheel.

An hour later after they'd both packed up, they got in the car, pulled out a sugary beverage, and started drinking as they cruised down the road out of town. "Come away with me…" The dreadlocked woman hummed quietly.