LUCKY THIRTEEN

"Good, again."

Robin Sena glared harshly, folding her arms across her chest crossly. Already, her sweat-drenched face had been tanned and burnt from the day's worth of hard work and exercise. Now that night had set in, a cold chill flushed over her. Stray strands of coppery red hair hung, plastered to her face by perspiration from the exertion.

"Isn't it time for dinner?" the girl asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

He came at her again, staff in hand. It took but a heartbeat for Robin to draw up her own, long, wooden quarterstaff to block. The tall man knocked her staff clean out of the smaller girl's hands.

"Not until you start focusing."

The witch bit her upper lip almost impatiently, but drew up the staff again, before circling her attacker, her sensei of sorts. Her emerald eyes followed his every motion, searching for a weakness, but finding none. Robin crouched low, preparing to spring, but her trainer leapt first, dancing towards her in swift fury. The girl barely sidestepped out of the way of his swinging weapon. She tried to lash out, to strike at him, but he was too fast. In an instant, his staff hooked behind the teenager's ankle and swept Robin's legs right out from under her.

She flopped to the earth ungracefully, in a dusty, tired heap, panting heavily. "Lost my focus… again."

"Yes. It was a foolish and critical mistake."

His strong hand helped the girl up from the ground as Robin rubbed the back of her head from where she landed. "I'm sorry." She reached for the staff and held it for a moment, feeling the comforting grain of the wood slip over her skin. "I just can't seem to find my focus tonight." Robin looked up to him. "Can't I just use my Craft?"

He shook his head, tossling his black, almost raven feather hair. "You can't depend on your Craft. We've been over this dozens of times, Robin." He sighed, resigned to repeating the overall lesson for the hundredth time. "It is a dead giveaway that you-"

"Are a witch," Robin finished for him.

The man gave a slight smile. "And a target for Solomon." He took up her staff from out of her hands. "You can never forget that, Robin. You are always being hunted."

"I know, Amon. I know."

-

It was hopeless.

Karasuma had to admit it. The empath had been scouring the alleyway behind the gothic/industrial club Nocturne for close to an hour or two. Still, there was nothing. If it hadn't been for the gentleman she'd bumped into while walking into Kabukichu, Miho could have sworn her gifts were off.

"Miss Karasuma?" the voice spoke softly, tentatively.

The woman rose slowly, feeling her energies uncoiling defensively, until her eyes caught sight of the person speaking. "Sakaki. What are you doing here?"

The hunter shrugged. "I saw your car…"

Miho raised a curious eyebrow. Sakaki lied like a rug. She didn't need to be an empath to tell Haruto's deception. The younger male stood there, in dark, black pants, complete with dozens of straps and buckles dangling from close to every inch of denim. A tight, fishnet shirt hugged his athletic features. Karasuma almost burst out in laughter when her sharp eyes noted the black nail polish on his fingers and the matching eyeliner on his face. This was not the Sakaki she knew from the STN-J. This was an entirely different breed of person.

"Ok," Haruto conceded, seeing the doubt in his partner's face. "So, I like to go out every now and then. No big deal, right?"

Miho smirked at her fellow hunter and gave him a playful jab. "Nope." She beamed, now fully aware of his industrial lifestyle from the slightest of contact. "But you know you'll have hell to pay is Michael or Doujima ever hear about this. I don't think you'll ever be able to live this one down."

He grinned. "I guess that's just the price I have to pay for living so dangerously." The hunter froze, his gaze drifting back to the crime scene and police mulling about. "I heard something like this happened. Figured I'd have to cut my losses and come out to investigate." The man kicked a pebble with his toe. "So, pick anything up?"

"No," the woman responded, almost lamenting the word, still dragging her hand over the cold brick and stone wall. "Have you been here all night?"

Sakaki nodded. "Pretty much since doors."

"See anything unusual?" Miho inquired.

The hunter sighed heavily. "You might want to come inside and see this."

-

"You let me violate you."

Miho cringed at the song lyrics, song in English by some husky, male voice, blaring over the sound system in the club. She tried to ignore the undertones and stick as close to Sakaki's back as humanly possible.

"You let me desecrate you."

Again, Karasuma recoiled. This time, from the reaction of the crowd. They actually seemed to LOVE the song. Their bodies swayed and moved in time with the harsh bass beats. They reveled in the music, black clothes swirling and swishing with their pale bodies. Goths, Miho recalled. This was a goth club. Industrial. These sickening lyrics actually appealed to them.

"You let me penetrate you," the singer continued, to the woman's shock.

"What the hell is this?" Karasuma screamed over the song into Sakaki's ear.

He grinned from ear to ear, a Cheshire Cat smile, with some sort of devilish delight at his boss's apparent suffering. "Nine Inch Nails, Closer."

"You let me complicate you."

Miho sighed heavily but followed as Sakaki led his superior into the club. To enter Nocturne, the actual Nocturne, one first had to pass through Heaven and Purgatory. Heaven was the entrance, a sweeping entryway. To one side, tickets and entry fares were sold. To the other, there were soft, plush couches that Miho didn't care to venture a guess at the sorts of activities that had occurred on them. In the middle of the dingy, darkly lit room, two scantly clad, sprite-like women, dressed as fairies, frolicked and cavorted, twirling glow sticks under the black lights. The fairies danced and twirled in time to thumping music. Purgatory was harsher than Heaven. There, louder, angrier, grittier dance music played. That was where Sakaki had currently led Miho.

She glanced around. Purgatory, just like Heaven, had the heavy post and beam construction of a medieval castle. At least, that's what it looked like under the red lights of the bar. Miho couldn't tell what anything about her looked like in the dark with the bright, fast moving colored lights of the club.

She stiffened, having suddenly noticed the motif over the bar. Hagalaz. The Rune of Discord. It was prominently featured over the ebony bar, carved and burnt into a chunky piece of wood and suspended above the bartender.

The tender must have seen the hunter's awkward, gaping stare as Sakaki continued to drag her across the dance floor towards Hell. The tall, imposing foreigner, with chiseled, almost hawk-like features and piercing blue eyes seemed to glare for a moment, as if asking who in the hell this woman was. The bartender stroked his dark, brown goatee for a moment before pulling back his long, smooth, chocolate colored hair into a tight ponytail. Every muscle on him twinged, as if priming for battle.

Miho almost reeled from the mental shockwave that came out from him, cascading over her in a tsunami of energy. But that wasn't what almost knocked her down. No, the realization that the bartender hadn't unleashed his full potential almost sent Karasuma to the floor.

"Witch," she hissed.

Sakaki nodded slowly. "Yeah. There are a couple of them around here, but they pretty much keep to themselves."

A headache loomed over Karasuma; she massaged her temples. "Except for that."

The younger male put an arm around her, trying to help shoulder her weight a little bit and keep her moving, back and into Hell. "A warning shot, Miss Karasuma." He gave a little stroke of her cheek to reassure the woman at his side. "Nothing more." Sakaki steeled himself in a way his fellow hunter had never seen as he went on. "They know you're investigating the attacks. They know it has something to do with a witch."

"But they don't want anything to do with it," Miho breathed, reaching for her gas gun, still filled with tranquilizers. "Are they registered?"

"Who knows?" Sakaki honestly replied.

Miho lifted her gaze curiously, to meet his. "Then, what are you doing here?"

He blinked. "Miss Karasuma, I thought you knew."

She shook her head.

"I've been working to infiltrate them."

Even then, Miho could taste the lie. Like bile, it washed up the back of her throat, splashed in her mouth and across her mind. How could he? How could Sakaki lie to her? And it was a knowing lie indeed. Haruto was fully aware of his own deception to her.

"Haruto…."

He didn't answer. "C'mon."

A sheet of ice instantaneously spread over Sakaki. How like Amon, the empathy noted. Suddenly, Haruto was the epitome of the man he had emulated for so long. He grew cold, distant, dark, brooding, in a flash. Miho wanted to shrug off his arm, to run away and get as far from Sakaki as she could, but the hunter knew she could not. If Karasuma fled, the others would be upon her, and she'd never get the answers she needed.

Oh yes, there were others.

Miho could see it now far better, especially with the close contact to Haruto, with his opened eyes. There were several of them. Witches, seeds, and everything in between. The bartender in Purgatory, witch. The bouncer, witch. A couple of the dancers, witches. Even some of the club goers, witches. It was a haven.

Karasuma gasped, knowing now what she and Sakaki had stumbled upon, but the man led her on. In no time, they stood before massive, oak doors, carved with demons chasing and torturing angels, turning them into demons and starting the cycle over again. The bouncer eyed the two of them warily for a moment, as if trying to guess their age. Sakaki presented an id, followed quickly by Karasuma's. The bouncer nodded before handing the id's back and turning to open the door.

He spared a quick glance in Miho's direction with those dark, almost grape eyes. The nineteen-year old softened for a moment. "Take a deep breath, Miss Karasuma. You're going to need it."

The doors threw open and Karasuma drew in a sharp breath.

Teiwaz. Hagalax. Naudhiz.

The runes! There they were, painted in dark red letters over the stage, as if smearing in blood itself. Karasuma instantly felt sick, upon noticing the darker, almost brown look, and the way it seemed to glow under the black lights. It was blood.

Her feet burnt. The woman jumped and looked down, only to spy the Futhark rune Isa on the floor. The Rune of Inertia, of ice. It was a freezing rune, marking the club in the same blood as the runes behind the stage. The Rune of Ice. It must have been what stopped the psychic energy from reaching Karasuma, making the entire club feel devoid of any energy. But, what of the bartender, of the witches Karasuma could definitely feel?

Looking back on it, she hadn't even felt Sakaki approach. Normally, she could pick Haruto's presence out of a crowd, even if it had been hours before.

Something was wrong.

"Sakaki…."

He ushered her to the side, into a dark corner, away from the writhing, swirling masses of dancing Goths and rivetheads. It was a good thing, too, for, even as Haruto did, he could see the empathy on the verge of passing out. The young man propped his partner against the wall under a vent and fanned cool air onto her.

"Miss Karasuma! Miss Karasuma!"

Miho blinked back the bleariness to her vision, "Get me out of here, now!"

Sakaki didn't waste anytime in helping shoulder her weight back out of the club, through the massive gate to Hell, through Purgatory and past the bar, through Heaven, and out, into the chilling night. Karasuma shivered as she passed through the last door, having noticed the rune Algiz carved into the marble steps to Heaven. The Rune of Protection.

Her male counterpart eased her down to sit on the steps; she rolled her eyes to meet his worried gaze. "What kind of a place is this?"

"I thought you knew," he spoke the words slowly, unsurely.

The woman gave a wave of her hand. "Just tell me."

Sakaki closed his eyes slowly. "It's a sanctuary."

"… for witches."

-

Ok… so victims of witches… next to a sanctuary of witches. And what exactly is Sakaki's secret? I'll keep you posted. Again, sorry for the short chapters. Been writing and going to class.