Chapter 3
the warning for things to come
A young woman was sitting in the library, her head on a book, breathing deeply and silently. Her long brown hair fell across her face. Then, she stirred and her brown eyes slowly flickered open. Blurred images greeted her sight. Her face contorted into a frown as she attempted to focus on her surroundings. Her hand felt the table until it chanced upon a pair of brown spectacles which she then wore. "Much better," Kasumi Ayukawa said.
"Finally awake," a voice on her right said. It was one of the librarians, Aoi Sayame. She was also Kasumi's friend back when she was in high school.
Kasumi stretched her arms and yawned. "Yeah," she replied, "must have dozed off again. Getting old is not a very good thing."
"Stop that," her friend chided, "you're only what, twenty-five? Twenty-six? You're just being lazy."
Kasumi grinned. "I suppose. Stupid assignment, why can't they give me more interesting stories like the other reporters! All I get are human interest stories, holiday stories, it's sickening!"
"Hey, I'm your friend, not your job counsellor," Aoi said, "What are you supposed to do this time anyway?"
"Something on the war memorial at the park near here. Stupid stuff." Kasumi brushed a stray hair from her eyes as she replied. "I have do the history, interview some old people and how great this memorial is. Boring stu--" She paused in mid-sentence, a sudden sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She quickly turned around, searching for the cause of her distress.
"Kasumi? Hey, what's the matter?" Aoi asked, noting her friend's wild movements. Kasumi didn't reply, being too busy scanning the library. Then, she spotted them. Five people in dark coats were at the front desk. Her heartbeat quickened and she almost panicked. Hunters, witch hunters. They were after her! They knew who she was! She hurriedly got up to leave but rational thought stopped her from running off. She took several deep breaths. If she ran off now, it would look very suspicious. It would be best to just stay still and observe what they were doing.
"Kasumi? Are you alright?" Aoi asked her friend once more, concerned about her sudden actions.
Kasumi slowly nodded. "I'm fine. Just had a head rush, nothing serious."
"That's good to hear. I'll be going off now, got some books to categorize. Are you sure you'll be ok?"
"Uh-huh, don't worry about me," she replied distractedly.
"Ok then, seeya." With that, Aoi left the table. Kasumi didn't notice, she was too intent on the garbed Hunters roaming about the library. Then, three of them strode out of the building. The other two, a young blonde girl-hunter and her partner headed towards the bookshelves, in her direction. She immediately looked down, not daring to face them. They walked right past her. She let go the breath she was holding. Ok, they were not looking for her it seemed, or else she would have been caught already. She snuck a peek at the two. Just then, one of the Hunters turned his head towards her and when his eyes locked on to her own, Kasumi could barely breathe. His eyes! The red eyes! The Devil's eyes! She felt like a deer caught in a lion's gaze. She couldn't move! She couldn't escape! Her heart was hammering in her body and there was sweat on her forehead. She had the urge to start screaming and scurry away. She would have done so if the man's partner did not catch his attention. The man broke the gaze and walked off. Kasumi looked away, she was breathing heavily. Her mind was racing, wondering about what had just happened. About the man, no, thing, that had the red eyes. It couldn't have been him. He didn't exist. He couldn't have. She had spent her life believing that he didn't.
But he was there. He did exist.
"No," she breathed. No. She quickly kept her things and got up to leave. Even if it was him, she was not responsible for it. She was not her father!
She left the table.
Robin was currently reading a Latin book. She and Asriel decided to look in that section after Amon, Karasuma-san and Sakaki had left the library. The team had just received information regarding Hasegawa and those three went off to find further clues. Robin and Asriel were to look for information about the so-called Hand of God, whatever that might be. Robin sighed. They were more than five-hundred Latin books in the library. They would not be able to read them all! This kind of job was for Michael, not her. "Amon baka," she whispered. And where was Asriel? He said he was going to look for some information at the other side of the shelves before finding her. And why did he stare at some random lady just now? "And he wants dinner too. That player!" She closed the book with a snap and was about to leave the area when suddenly, a voice came from behind her.
"Stay away from him. Stay away from the Devil's eyes!" the voice rasped.
Robin whirled around, but there was nobody there. She hurried towards the other shelves in search for the source of the voice, but the place was like a maze and any trace of him or her, was gone.
"Robin?" came a male tone behind her. She turned around. It was Asriel. "Robin," he repeated, "You ok there?"
Robin nodded. "I'm fine. Just a little spooked, that's all," she replied.
"Spooked? There aren't any ghosts here," he said, grinning.
"How can you be so sure?" she asked the tall man.
Asriel's face suddenly became serious. "Because. Because I'm here."
Robin blushed, a common reaction she found when talking to the new Hunter. Her mood had lightened a bit, thanks to Asriel's comment, but the experience still nagged her. Devil's eyes?
"You called them already?" Amon asked Karasuma. They were in Amon's car, waiting next to an apartment building.
Karasuma nodded, "Called them, they should be here soon." She yawned and looked at her watch, it was almost one in the morning. "So this is the place? What are we doing waiting for him so late at night?"
"He knows we're on his trail. That's why he doesn't go home. This is his friend's place, and he comes home late every night to avoid us. Makes sense to me," Amon answered. He took out his communicator and tuned into Michael's frequency. "Michael, you do the coordinating. Are the others there yet?"
"Sakaki and Doujima are in position," came Michael's voice over the channel. "Robin and Asriel aren't, oh, hold on. Robin just reported in. I'm telling them the situation now. Give me the thumbs up when we start Amon. Out."
Amon kept the communicator in his coat pocket. Hopefully, this witch would be easier to handle than the last one, with no need for Asriel to save them this time. Amon didn't like Asriel. He didn't know why, but something about the new member disturbed him. Especially Asriel's eyes. There was a feral quality to them. Perhaps even hunger.
"Amon. Get ready. Target's nearby," Karasuma's voice brought him out of his musings and into the mission at hand. Amon looked through the windscreen of the car. He could make out a figure heading towards them.
"Ok," he spoke through the communicator, "All in position now. Let's go." With that, he thumbed a switch on the car dashboard. The car headlights flared, blinding the man that was approaching them. The man lifted his arms to shield his face from the glare as the two Hunters exited the car, pistols pointed at the witch. "Yuiichi Hasegawa!" Amon shouted. Suddenly, the car headlights exploded into hundreds of shards of glass, taking the witch from its spotlight. Amon and Karasuma had their arms covering their faces from the flying glass.
"Hunters!" Hasegawa cried out, "I might have known!" It was then Amon noticed a huge current of air beginning to encircle the witch. He could actually see the wind swirling around Hasegawa. This was not good. Then, with a sharp snap, a tongue of that air current lashed out towards the car, hitting its bonnet and subsequently flipping it over. The two STN-J members dived for cover as the car crashed onto the ground. Amon rolled and quickly took aim before firing off two shots from his pistol. The shots were on target, however, they splattered onto an invisible wall a metre in front of Hasegawa.
"Damn!" Amon cursed and fired off several more rounds. He could hear Karasuma do the same. The onslaught of attacks startled the witch and he began to back away, before going into a full-out sprint from the Hunters. The plan was back in motion again. Whipping out his communicator, he hurriedly gave his orders. "Robin! He's heading towards you! Go deal with him! Sakaki! Hurry towards Robin's position to cut off his escape route. Be careful guys, he's strong!" He kept the communicator as he got onto his feet and ran after the witch. Karasuma followed suit, leaving the smashed-up car behind them.
Robin kept her own device. She turned towards Asriel. "You ready?" she asked.
Asriel gave a wolfish grin and said, "I've been hunting since you were a little girl. I'm ready." He squinted into the distance. "Here he comes now." Sure enough, the dim figure of the hunted witch came into view several hundred metres from them. Robin nodded and put on her spectacles. Asriel simply raised his arm, palm opened towards the man. When Robin thought the man was close enough, she let loose a wall of flame right in front of him. Hasegawa stopped dead in his tracks, scared by the fire that appeared out of nowhere.
"Hasegawa! Give it up! Don't make me kill you!" Robin shouted. Asriel's gloved hand started spouting purple flames, ready to attack.
Hasegawa stared at the Hunters, gauging their abilities. At the same time, he was drawing the air particles around him, forming his protective shield. It was his ability, to use the air as he saw fit. But he knew it wouldn't be right to use it too often. It was just for self-defence. It was the thug's own fault! The man attacked him, forcing him to use the power he had. It wasn't his fault! But the system didn't care. Not for aberrations like him. And now, the Hunters were here. They were feared among the witch community. Very feared. If they came after you, you were a dead man they said. So when he heard that the Hunters were looking for him, he fled to a friend's place, making sure to only appear near his current staying quarters late at night. Just as he had tonight. But the Hunters were waiting for him this time. He was going to get caught! That made his mind up. His two attackers stood there in front of him. They were Craft-users, he could feel it. He would not be able to fight them. Hasegawa turned around, making as if to run away again but at the same time, he heard a voice from behind. Two more Hunters now stood in front of him, the Craft-users behind. The two had their guns pointed towards him. One of them, a guy, took a step towards him.
"Don't move Hasegawa. You have nowhere to run to now," he said.
Hasegawa looked around him. He was surrounded. He could not run anywhere now. Then he grinned. He could not run. He drew the air around him once more, the particles gaining more and more momentum.
"What the—Robin!" he heard the male Hunter shout. Hasegawa felt a brief flash of heat as fire suddenly attacked his shield but his power was still ample to protect him. With a loud cry, he gathered the air currents below…and jumped.
Robin could sense Hasegawa's attempt at spinning a stronger shield and when Sakaki shouted for her, she instantly reacted by setting the shield on fire. Hasegawa's defence was stronger than expected and the attack dealt little damage to him. Before she could attack again, the man cried out and leapt into the air, and kept right on towards the sky.
"He can fly?" she heard Sakaki say. Robin looked up at the night sky but could not spot the witch.
"Hey!" came Amon's voice nearby them. He and Karasuma soon reached the group. "Where's Hasegawa?"
Doujima pointed up towards the sky.
The group got into their respective vehicles, meaning they all squeezed into Doujima's car. "Why does everyone need to take this car? It's so small! What about the rest of the guys?"
Karasuma laughed. "Well, mine is sort of destroyed. And Robin doesn't have one. So you're the obvious choice."
"Fine. I understand," Doujima sighed, "So where to now?" All of them looked at Amon.
"HQ," came his stoic reply, "We'll keep on searching tomorrow. No point doing it tonight."
"Understood," said Doujima, "Asriel! You getting in?" Asriel was still outside the car. He shook his head.
"I'm off to meet someone. Don't worry about me."
"Eh? So late at night? Sounds very suspicious to me!" Doujima teased, "A date with a city girl? You act fast!"
Asriel laughed. "Why should I when I have such lovely ladies right here?"
"Well, if you're sure," Doujima shrugged.
"Be careful now!" Karasuma waved, "City girls are like animals!"
"Ja," Robin said as the car started up and left the area. Asriel nodded his head at the car disappeared from view. Then, he smiled.
Several blocks away from the Hunters' departure, dry leaves on the ground suddenly started swirling around in a huge circle. Then an unusual gust of wind entered the area, spreading the leaves even more. And in the centre stood the Hunters' prey. Hasegawa landed lightly onto the ground and the wind around him calmed. He heaved a sigh of relief. The stunt he pulled had just saved his life. The Hunters were gone now, he was safe. All he needed to do was to find another spot to hide. He could even leave the country! He had contacts that could do that. He started walking down a street away from his original hideaway, thinking of how to make his escape. He didn't notice the wind around him getting stronger and stronger until a full-sized gale hit him and slammed the witch into a nearby wall. Hasegawa looked up in alarm. He could see large tendrils of air currents circling several metres in front of him. They were exactly like the ones he could produce, only stronger! Then he could see the person doing it. It was a man, standing in the middle of the small tornado. He was wearing a dark heavy jacket…wait…it was the same jacket the Hunters were wearing! It was a Hunter! The man's eyes were closed as he slowly descended onto the ground. His boots landed on the road and the wind currents ceased. His clothes stopped fluttering and settled proper. His face showed no sign of strain from maintaining the flight on his well-formed face. The landing could be considered perfect. The Hunter could almost be viewed as an angel descending from the heavens to Earth. He looked so serene…so perfect. Hasegawa was a breath short of considering the man divine. Then, the man opened his eyes—and Hasegawa screamed.
Asriel frowned in annoyance. They always screamed but this one made a very shrill, irritating sound. It could cut into his brain. "If that is your weapon witch, it works rather well," he said loudly. Hasegawa made no move except to scream louder. His mouth was open and would not close; his eyes were glazed with fear and panic and were locked onto Asriel's own. He was paralysed.
"Afraid? Can't move from fear? Well, I tend to have that effect on people," Asriel mocked as he took several steps towards the witch. He laughed, an angelic, gentle one if not for the intent behind it. "You have no idea how lucky you are my friend," he continued, getting ever nearer to the motionless man, "If you have not escaped just now, you would be either incinerated, or taken to the Factory to be, how should I put it, used properly. As fate should have it, you have a wondrous power and you flew away, away from evil's crutches and into my warm embrace." The Hunter paused right in front of the witch. The witch had already screamed himself hoarse and could not make much noise anymore. "You have great power my friend," Asriel said, "I won't let it go to waste. Your strength will live within me and I shall emerge even more powerful. Then the hateful Hunters will not be able to hunt anymore of your…of my kind."
Suddenly, life came back to Hasegawa's eyes and he pushed Asriel back in panic. The witch then ran for his life away from the man. His thoughts were only focused of getting away from that… that monster! Before he even made a decent run, something stabbed into both his legs and Hasegawa collapsed onto the tar road. The pain he experienced was incredible! Hasegawa started screaming and howling again, in pain this time. When he took a closer look at his legs, all he saw was a pile of bloodied tissue and shattered, splintered bone. He gazed up and saw the monster walking towards him casually. He had to escape! Hasegawa started to crawl away from Asriel; a slow agonizing process. When next the witch glanced behind him, the man was already right behind his destroyed legs. Asriel walked over the struggling man and stopped in front of him. The Hunter squatted and blocked the man's way.
"You shouldn't have done that," Asriel said as he lightly grabbed Hasegawa's hair, "Then I wouldn't have used my power. That particular one came from another witch you know. He used that power on me and scratched me a little. So I looked for his entire family and took them all too. Right in front of him. It wasn't really my style and they weren't very strong, but he annoyed me a little. I'm sure you understand right?" The man let go of the witch's hair and stood up. He took off his left glove with his right hand and pushed the glove into his coat pocket. His exposed hand was covered in purple flames. Hasegawa could see a symbol on the back of the hand amidst the fire. It was in the shape of an eye with wavy lines running down towards the arm. Suddenly, the Hunter grabbed the man's hair with the remaining gloved hand and pulled him up from his lying position. Hasegawa cried out in pain and surprise as he dangled from his scalp in front of Asriel. The witch then raised his left hand in front of Hasegawa's face, the symbol on it glowing bright purple. "Time to feed," he whispered. Hasegawa saw the hand whip onto his face, gripping it tightly, the flames burning off the skin on his cheeks. But the physical hurt was nothing compared to the amount of pain he was suffering deep in his mind. It was as if his very soul was being pulled out through the pores in his skin, the openings in his body. He didn't know if he was still screaming or not.
But when the feasting started, he knew he was.