LUCKY THIRTEEN

"Amon! Wait!"

The hunter dragged on her wrist, hauling the craft user down the front steps of the club and practically right into the startled form of Miho Karasuma. The empath and Doujima had been going up the steps and into Nocturne right as Amon and Robin had been attempting to make their own, hasty escape.

"Robin, Amon," she greeted.

Robin blinked. "Karasuma. Hello."

Amon practically thrust Robin at Doujima. "Get her out of here," the man snarled. "Karasuma, come with me."

"Amon!" The girl went to argue. "No. I don't want to leave you here!"

The man turned and glared. "Robin, listen to me. I won't leave without Sakaki, but your craft is utterly useless here." The edge off of him seemed to blur and soften slightly. "You can't help at all for the moment, so go and be safe."

She sighed but conceded. "Alright. But be safe, Amon."

"I will."

The gaping maw that was the entrance to Nocturne swallowed Amon and Karasuma as the two hunters returned to the club and to the hustle and bustle of the nightlife. Robin just stood on the steps, panting heavily, hoping beyond hope that everything would go smoothly.

"So, how've you been, Robin?"

xxxx

"They're here!"

The call went up clearly and sharply through the club. As soon as Brett had seen them in Hell, the call went through. All of that ragtag little band made it known that the STN had arrived, passing the message from one to the other. Soon, not only that little family of Brett, Kristo, Geoff, Raven, Bear, Kathain, and Nycole knew of the hunters in their midst. At the bar, it was Sakaki who was the last to hear.

Geoff told him.

"What?" The word spilled from Sakaki's mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Brett told me. I think you can trust his judgment," the bartender responded as he quickly stirred up an Appletini. "Said he saw 'em."

"Shit." The hunter slammed his fist down hard on the counter.

Geoff smirked. "Careful. The bar might fight back one of these days." He glanced over Sakaki's shoulder, "Look, go keep an eye on the girls. You're scaring away customers." Haruto raised an eyebrow. "Go. Make sure those two twits don't burn themselves."

"Sure."

xxxx

The music thumped in Karasuma's head. She felt dizzy and exhausted from running for almost 48 hours straight. The woman stumbled, but Amon caught her and righted the woman. Karasuma blushed at her own stupid accident.

"Ernst wenn die Wolken schlafengehen," a crooning female voice sang in a calm moment. "Kann man uns am himmel sehen."

She sighed. "How could anyone like this angry of music… in German no less?"

"It feeds them," Amon responded

"Wir haben Angst und sind allein," the woman sang again.

The man turned away. "The energy these people derive from the song comes from the song itself." He barely registered any emotion to the empath. "It is their way of life."

"I know," Miho admitted sheepishly.

"Keep looking."

xxxx

Neither of the hunters could have noticed the eyes upon them.

A shadow moved along the wall, detaching itself for but a moment before returning to the deep, concealing dark. It stepped forward, away from the depths of the club.

Steel glittered and gleamed.

Then, it recoiled, receding and returning to the darkness.

They should have been dead. Both Amon and Karasuma. The figure could have ended them in a flash, both of them. Yet, it did not. The shadow had given its polite regards, studying and learning about both of these interlopers in the affairs of Nocturne. It took careful mental notes of everything and anything about the pair.

The shadow seemed to nod before disappearing again.

xxxx

Amon and Karasuma spent the rest of the evening patrolling the bar and grounds, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. They didn't even see Sakaki at all. Amon began to wonder if it was all just some petty joke meant to scare Robin and him into returning to the STN-J, to hunting.

'No,' Amon thought, shaking his head.

Karasuma wasn't like that. Never in all the time he had known the empath had she acted in an irrational or illogical manner. It was as if the woman was completely incapable of doing such a thing. Miho had never been one to joke or tease, especially not with Robin, let alone Amon. She was level headed, cool, and responsible.

Sakaki, on the other hand….

He looked to Miho. All the color had drained from her face, save two dark rings, one under each eye. Amon couldn't tell exactly how long the empath had been awake, but the man knew exhaustion when he saw it. The woman sat slumped on a bar stool beside him, practically falling asleep in her chair. Amon raised an eyebrow, wondering how long it would take the hunter to just fall right off the stool.

"Karasuma." He didn't even look up when Miho tried to meet his gaze. "Go home."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Nothing's happening." Miho stood, stretching out her aching muscles. "Call me if anything does."

"Sure."

xxxx

They could breathe a sigh of relief.

At least, Kathain and Nycole did. As they pulled off their fairy wings and began to make their way back from Hell and into Purgatory, their hearts lifted a little, fluttering up with the music. Kathain even did a little sly sort of jig when the two reached the bar of Purgatory. Nycole laughed, giving Geoff a fun sort of hug, pausing only to give a quick look to the odd, darkly clad customer slouching over his drink.

Nycole shrugged it off as Kathain helped her up to the bar.

The two chuckled as the closing music began to play, dimming slightly. They clapped in time, as did the bartenders. Something about closing always felt so right to Nycole and yet so sad. Everyone came together for those few lines before splitting away and leaving for the evening. There was so much energy, such life, it would have been hard for anyone to resist that joyous feeling.

Nycole wondered how the dark figure slumped over his drink couldn't feel it. Jokingly, the girl made up a grand tale about how the man with the regal features and bearing had been dumped by a girl and run into the ground, come to set himself right by meeting the perfect little gothy girl.

She gave a nod in his direction to give Kathain the heads up as the girl passed.

Kathain smiled and crouched down low before him, whispering into his ear. "Y'know, things would be a lot more fun for you if you just let go and got into it."

The stranger peered up at the girl crouched before him. "Really?"

Kathain jumped, nearly falling right off the back of the bar. She blinked. Nycole's heart jumped, thumping heavily in her chest, but her friend's deft hand shot out and caught one of the heavy wooden beams. All the color drained from her face, but Kathain blushed at her mistake and tried to shake it off.

"You're a character….. aren't you?"

xxxx

The club emptied quickly and easily that night, with no problems.

Sakaki could finally relax, or so he thought. The man strode up to the bar, a lilt in his step, as the last customer downed a final shot for the road. The hunter pulled up a stool and sat right by Nycole and Kathain, who rested on the bar. Something clicked beside his head, a familiar noise. Nycole screamed, but Kathain just quietly shrank back, holding her breath.

Sakaki merely stiffened, freezing in place. "Took you long enough."

Slowly, carefully, the hunter turned, only to stare down the barrel of a gas gun, to Amon. The former hunter continued to gaze deeply into the empty shot glass, as if all the mysteries of the universe were contained therein.

"So, is it true?" Amon inquired.

Sakaki's brow knit. "Is what true?"

"Have you betrayed the STN-J?"

xxxx

Mmm…. Finally some action and confrontation.