Maira felt sick. Not because of the dim green light Sentinel's Chrysalis emitted, ot because of the bumpy road the van was currently on. With the tinted window separating her from the driver, Maira was as alone as could be in the crammed up space, finally free to worry about her mission's definite failure.

Even though they were still far away from the Japan Headquarters, she couldn't shake the feeling off. It was like being called on in the classroom to answer a question, only ten times worse. Her stomach was twisting and her palms, albeit sweaty, were cold. She had thought that maybe having Sentinel around in a more literal form would help her, but all the spirit was able to do was cradle her lantern.

With nothing else to do, she started picking at all the faults Leah's plans had so far. One, just because she was a side project didn't mean the Grigori trusted her. Second, infiltration and spying were far, far away from her spectrum of abilities. And three, Angel didn't trust her for sure. Maira didn't know how he'd react to his sister's 'fake death'- which was the second one, by the way- and she really didn't want to find out. Especially since he'd rather have Leah freeloading rather than Maira.

Her mind kept racing, counting in things that probably weren't as bad as the main three in her panic. The procedure only made her feel even more uneasy, and it seemed to be spreading to Sentinel. She had gone from cradling to swinging the lantern idly, pretending to be 'lost in thought'. It continued like that for nearly an hour, Maira having run out of new things to worry about and Sentinel almost dropping the iron container, when the telltale sound of glass breaking made them both stop dead.

Maira recognized the sound as soon as it reached her ears. For all her parents' fighting, she had come to love that noise; she could almost see the tall glass being flung, colliding with the ground in bullet time. Only this time it was no lipstick stained glass.

The van came screeching to a stop, and for a second Maira's head almost hit the metal wall opposite of her. She heard the front doors being opened, then shut again in a hurry. One of the two escorts loaded his gun, the click causing a new panic to spread throughout her body, setting every nerve on edge.

The only way out of the van was through the back door, obviously. She had made sure to listen in when they left the bunker, and knew for a fact that it was locked. With a wave of her hand, Sentinel dissipated- Chrysalis, although the most useful ability, was by far the most tiring one and Maira would need her strength if she had to make a run for it. Lucifer had had the decency to give her guns back- except for her brand new sniper rifle, unfortunately- so at least she would be able to defend herself without relying on Sentinel too much.

Gunshot followed, and for a few agonizing seconds, there was complete silence. Then something heavy was flung at the back door of the van, denting it. She crept towards it slowly. Whatever had been thrown wasn't alive- not anymore anyway-, and the escorts, judging by the looks of them, weren't nearly strong enough to lift anything half their weight, much less thrown it hard enough.

No more sounds.

Still, Maira kept still for a few more seconds, hoping that whatever had attacked them couldn't sense her. That was one of the disadvantages of being branded, it would seem; Sentinel's presence could be felt by literally every other demon, since she wasn't strong to conceal it. So, all she could do was hope that they'd come across a very silent bear.

After waiting for what seemed an appropriate amount of time, she kicked the door open. The dent was such that the lock came apart easily and one kick seemed to have done it. With one revolver out, Maira looked around for any signs of enemies. Sure enough, one of the escorts' body was laid at her feet, broken and bleeding. His neck had been broken due to the crash with the vehicle, and his glassy eyes were now looking upwards, beyond her. The second one was out of sight.

She hopped out of the car, landing on all fours to reduce the sound. Nothing. The sun was setting fast, and she'd be damned if she got stranded in the middle of nowhere with two bodies and an unspecified amount of demons that were, no doubt, waiting for her to wander further from the van.

Inwardly, she counted her ammo. It would be enough if it was one demon, barely it if were two and... well. She'd have to hope it was only one. Despite her better judgment telling her otherwise, she did wander from the van. Spending the night with a dead person in a van didn't seem that great an idea, to be honest, but it would be safer. Regardless- and even though she did her best to walk very slowly- the vehicle was nowhere near her sight when the sun dove under the horizon for good.

The moon loomed shyly, shedding very little light. Even with her improved vision it was hard to tell if she was still on the road. The same cold sweat from before washed over her as the battle readiness faded away. She walked a little faster now, shivering at the slightest movement.

It wasn't too long before she heard it. The sound that could once lull her to sleep, now doomed to haunt her: water. It was no pond or lake or river either. There was something dark, sinister in the otherwise inconspicuous sound. Without even realizing it, Maira took off running. Branched and roots tried to stall her, and had she been paying attention she would have thought that they were possessed. But, she wasn't. Her mind had gone blank, and she had withdrawn to her safe place, deep in the back of her mind.

It was like watching a movie; she could see and feel herself move, but couldn't control when to duck and when to jump. Her body acted on it's own, like it had been set on autopilot. She wasn't gaining any distance though. Whatever was hunting her was hot on her heels, the sound of pouring water now sounding more like a giant kettle, on the verge of boiling over.

The realization made her thrust back into consciousness. It wasn't an easy transition either; she felt disoriented, and for just a second she stopped running. At least, she tried to. She had built up enough momentum for the sudden change in speed to literally make her fly forward. Her head collided with a tree bark, hard enough for her ears to ring mercilessly, despite the sound coming closer.

She tried to focus on the figure that approached her, but the darkness veiled it well.

The huntress becomes the hunted.

Well... remember how I said last chapter was shorter than expected?

I (attempted) to fix it. Apparently, threatening Maira's life is easier and more fun for me rather than having her lounge around. Huh.

Elaine Weasley- Shima will get his turn. Leah has it coming too, but that'll take a while.

Aaaalso, Maira is referred to as a huntress here because I realized that she really is a bloodhound when she lets emotions rule over logic. And also the fact that Sentinel -and Amaterasu to an extend- are the only demons she refers to as 'she'. Every other demon is an 'it', except maybe the Demon Kings.