Satan City. Word was passed along every criminal network to stay away. Something lived there, something dangerous, something that hunted those who defied the law. Of course, there were still those who ignored the warnings as superstition. Surely they were smarter, faster, and stronger than the one who roamed the city in search of prey.
Such were the thoughts of the burly man and his gang, currently in the progress of cornering a young attractive women, fully intent on raping her and possibly killing her, just to enjoy even more screams of terror. The man's piggish eyes narrowed as he unceremoniously stuffed a rag in her mouth while his goons held her down.
He laughed and ran a hand down her face, enjoying her terrified whimpers. His hand slid further, over her breasts and down to her waist where it fingered the waist of her skirt. He leaned in close. "I'm gonna enjoy this babe." Her whimpers turned into muffled screaming as the man tore the article of clothing off and began to violently rape her.
Her screams did not fall on deaf ears.
There was a sudden flash of brilliant yellow light and one of the man's cronies was dead, a smoking hole driven clear through his body. Heads snapped to the direction of the blast, to fix on the man standing there. Tall and broad-shouldered, he cut an intimidating figure with pale skin and dark brooding eyes. He said nothing, only sneered at the startled men in the alley.
The leader of the gang growled and pulled away. "Who da hell are you and whaddaya want?" he snarled, angry at having his fun interrupted.
The man at the alley's mouth smirked, the expression twisting his face into a terrifying expression. "I believe the gangs around here know me as the Hunter." His face twisted into an equally frightening scowl. "And they also know not to fuck around in my territory. Were you too stupid or just too deaf to ignore the warnings?"
The heavy-set man laughed. "The Hunter? You ain't the Hunter. He's supposed to be some blood-sucking demon that glows with golden fire. An' that's just superstition anyway."
The man chuckled. It was a mirthless, sinister sound. "Obviously you were too stupid. The Hunter does exist. I'll show you."
This time, the alley was well lit, giving the man and his gang a chance to see the fabled transformation. And even if they had not, the sudden burst of golden flames around the man would have given them plenty of light. Everything would have been illuminated—the heavy brow, the demonic yellow eyes, mirrored by the golden spikes of hair waving in the breeze generated by the power-up, and the teeth. The sharp carnivorous teeth and long vampiric fangs that peeked through his slightly parted jaw.
He spoke again, though his voice was deep and slightly garbled by the teeth. "Do you believe now?"
The large man smirked, trying to cover his fear. "That was jus' some fancy ol' light tricks. That don't make you the Hunter."
The Hunter sniffed the air, a predatory expression settling on his features. "You're terrified. I can smell it. Fool." He snarled…and disappeared. The men looked around desperately, but they saw not a trace. Only tongues of golden flame as one by one, the goons began to fall, usually with smoking holes burnt into their chests, until the leader was the last one standing.
The Hunter reappeared, standing before the terrified man. "Has that been a satisfactory demonstration?"
Small eyes shut in horror, the large man whimpered and nodded. The man known as the Hunter leaned closer.
"Good. Now, you can do one more thing for me, and I'll let you go. Tilt your head to the side please…"
Christine Seittman, forgotten since the man showed up, screamed in terror as the golden demon sank his teeth into her rapist's neck. The demon did not pause in his feast, and seemed to be making a contented growling sound, almost like a purr as he sucked on the wound, drawing every drop from the heavy set rapist.
Finally he finished and dropped the dead man, pausing to burn a symbol in the corpse's forehead with a beam of light. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and sighed, reverting back to what appeared to be a normal human man with raven-black hair and eyes. He knelt down beside the horrified woman, who tried to shrink back into the alley wall and held up his hands in a peace gesture.
He smiled kindly. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm going to take the gag off and get you to a hospital, okay? I promise I won't do anything else." He reached out with a tentative hand and gently pulled away the filthy rags. No sooner had he done that then the woman slapped him across the face.
"Stay away from me, you monster! I don't know what the hell you are, but it sure as hell isn't human!"
In a better state of mind, she might have noticed the look of sorrow that flitted across the man's features, but it was covered by a scowl. "I just saved your pathetic life, even though I didn't have to. Do you realize how easy it would be for me to kill you and just be done with it? Instead I offer to help, and you attack me! Just trust me for fifteen minutes and then you never have to see me again, understand?"
The woman whimpered and the man sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry for snapping like that. You might say I'm a bit schizophrenic at times."
Christine nodded in understanding and allowed the mysterious man to pick her up. Blue flames sprung up around him, startling the young woman, and the two soared into the air, trailing blue fire.
"Yo, Earth to Videl!"
The brunette started, reaching for her gun, until she realized it was just her bubbly blonde partner Erasa. She sighed. "What?"
The blonde giggled. "May I ask what galaxy you were in? You were staring into your cup for, like, fifteen minutes. You okay?"
Videl yawned and scrubbed her eyes. "Yeah, just a usual Monday morning. Is there any reason you decide to scare me, or just being annoying?"
The eternally perky Erasa grinned happily. "Good news. We got another victim with all the usual trademarks. Son kanji, bite marks, the whole nine yards."
Videl blinked. "And this is good news because…?"
The blonde gave a triumphant smile. "Because we have a witness who knows exactly who our mysterious murderer is."
A/N- I thought I'd be evil and end it here. Don't worry; the next chapter won't be long in coming. Thanks for all the positive feedback guys, it really makes me feel good and makes me wanna write more, faster. Sorry if the whole alley scene was too long, but it was as long as I felt it needed to be. Until then!
Oh, right, I forgot. A couple of you have read my other fic, the Unwanted Images one. And a couple wanted more like it. If you have any idea, feel free to send 'em in, I'm open to suggestions.