Aargh… There might be some mistakes with speech and such stuff in this one (bear with me, this is the first fan fic I write with all the original characters in it). Also, death to writer's block.
Etcetera Kit – Darn! I knew something was missing! Thanks for pointing that out. Have to fix that in some way. Also, I try as hard as I can to keep Mary Sue tied up and gagged in the closet. Please kick me if I turn Adria into a Mary Sue.
Kill Mary Sue – Hey, there's many good LXG fics without original female characters in them, it's just that mine isn't one of them. It not too much to ask for, but it won't happen. Try reading those fics without original characters.
Sethoz - *whimpers* Okay, okay, please don't hit me, mistress/master…
- - -
- - -
Jekyll washed his hands while glancing at Adria behind him. She lay on a bed, breathing heavily, sound asleep. He had drugged her to ease her pain and be able to do something about her injuries. It was hard, and several times he had been sure he'd lose her, but with some help of a young crewmember who gave her some blood, it had worked. He looked at her reflection in the mirror and couldn't help but think that the last time he saw her, she was smiling and her eyes were more living than a forest in spring. He wondered for a moment what kind of creature could have caused those wounds. He corrected his sleeves and left the room, leaving her to sleep. Outside stood Tom, apparently worried. Jekyll couldn't blame him for that. Tom gave him a curious look.
"Well? Is she…?"
Jekyll didn't know if he meant dead or alright.
"I don't know yet. She is alive for the moment, but we will have to see if she lives the night. But if she does, she will be fine. You got her here just in time."
Tom sighed in relief, brushed some hair out of his face and smiled.
"I'm glad to hear that. Thanks for the help. I was thinking that I should go in and see her, but I guess I'm the last thing she wants to see right now. Good night, Dr. Jekyll." Tom said and turned to go to his cabin. Jekyll turned his way, but walked slowly in deep thoughts. Something harmed a young woman that way because she was talking? She didn't even tell them anything of great importance.
Maybe it was hungry. Hunting. I wouldn't hesitate a moment to hunt for her…
Jekyll was startled by Hyde's voice, and the glee in it. He sighed.
"I know." He said, not realizing that he was saying it loudly. "But if something was hunting, why just wound her? Whatever it was, it must have had large claws and enough strength to tear her apart. Sawyer couldn't have been the reason it decided to leave. Why did it leave, Edward?"
Jekyll opened the door to his cabin and looked at his room before entering it. He sat down on his bed and looked in the mirror in the other end of the room. Hyde looked back at him, but said nothing. He had seen blood this evening, smelled fear and pain. He was satiated for the moment. Jekyll lay down on the bed, turned the light off and used this precious moment of silence to get some rest.
- - -
Mina looked over London. She stood on the top of the ship, where Sawyer so often practises shooting. She was troubled. She had escaped up there when Sawyer came with that girl to avoid the sight of her blood. But that wasn't the only reason. Mina frowned and leaned on the reeling. Something wasn't right about that girl. She had smelt something odd on her, something that made her senses revolt. Whatever it was, it had made her want to kill her. To slit her throat and let her bleed to death on a street somewhere. If she hadn't left, maybe she had done just that. She wondered if this attack had something to do with the incident a few days earlier.
"It most likely has," she said quietly to herself. "But I can't seem to figure it out."
"Figure what out, Mina?" a voice said from nowhere. She spun around, mentally preparing herself for battle, but remembered Skinner.
"Stop sneaking up on people, Skinner!" she hissed. She heard him chuckle beside her and saw the small cloud his breath made in the cold air. Apparently, he was standing by the reeling as well, looking at her.
"Maybe some day, but definitely not today. What are you doing up here? It's freezing!"
"Thinking. After this, I believe we desperately need to find our enemies before they can do anyone any more harm."
"So you think this has something to do with us then?"
Mina sighed, frustrated. Why didn't he see what was so obvious?
"Of course it does, Skinner! Think! Why would anyone try to harm a girl that works on a hotel? That thing was out for Sawyer, not Adria. I think it was just an accident that it happened to hurt her."
Skinner didn't reply. Maybe he considered it, but without being able to see his face it was hard to tell.
"So, let's say it was indeed out for Sawyer as you say, what would we do about it? How should we find it if we don't even know what it is?"
Mina could hear in his voice how worried he was. She caught herself thinking how long time it took the stupid man to realize it was dangerous. But she didn't now what to do or how to find it. She sighed deeply and looked at the clouds of breath in lack of other signs that he was there.
"I don't know, Skinner. I wish I did."
Mina heard him drum his fingers towards the reeling.
"Yeah… that'd make things so much easier to deal with, wouldn't it?"
Mina nodded in agreement and looked down on the guards on the street. Most of them sometimes stopped in their steps to stop and admire the crescent moon. She looked up on it and remembered old times.
"I wonder what Mr. Q would have done. That man seemed to have the answers to most things." She mumbled.
Skinner didn't reply to that. Mina didn't know if he had left her to her thoughts, and to her it didn't matter. The thought of Quatermain grew in her mind until it became a pestering tingling. She tried to shake it out of her head to be able to concentrate on more important matters, but failed. She gave up and explored the thoughts. This gave her an idea.
"He was a hunter." She said quietly. She put her hand over her mouth and patted her cheek with her index finger.
"And it was an odd beast hunting Sawyer…"
"What was that, Mina? I sort of drifted away there for a bit…" Skinner said. Apparently he hadn't left, but she didn't pay to much attention to him anyway. She smiled, knowing a possible way out of their problem.
"Mr. Q. He was a hunter. Perhaps that's exactly what we need. A hunter, to help us find this beast."
"What? A new hunter? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Mina smiled now, still looking out over London.
"I believe it is. What do you think, Skinner?"
This time, he replied almost right away.
"I don't know, Mina. There's a lot of tension right now, and stuff like that. I think that if we would find another hunter and convince him to join, it's a big chance that he'll leave or make someone else do that. Everything's complicated, you know? But if he'd like it here, I guess it's a good idea."
Mina nodded.
"You're right, with all those problems. But do you think it's worth trying?"
"Aw, what the heck. Let's give it a shot and see what happens!" Skinner exclaimed, most likely grinning. But after a couple of seconds, he clothed their newest problem in words.
"But where can we find a hunter?"
