"I really don't know what to tell you, Tegs…" spoke a woman behind the desk at the Gehenna Town Welfare Center. An elf, she was tall, being much too tall for the desk she sat at and the chair she sat in, with long legs and broad shoulders. Like Tegwen's, her skin was dark tan, her hair braided, but on both sides. Her face was stern, with bushy eyebrows and prominent cheekbones, but she didn't seem at all threatening. "Whatever that energy you were sensing is, I'm not sure what it is, from what you're telling me."
"Then you should come with me to the spot I found it in." the shorter elf replied. "It's freaky! It could be something big!"
"Well I can't go now, I have work to do…" the first woman trailed off.
"C'mon, Tegwen, your big sis has stuff to do." Chimed in one of the woman's coworkers with a smile. "Why don't you try another interview in the meantime? I hear you haven't found anything. A lot like your 'weird presence'."
"Fight me, Helen." Tegwen answered before turning back to her older sister. "Forsetiiiii~!" she whined.
"The answer is no." the older sibling insisted. "When I get off work, I'll go check it out."
"UGH. Fine! I could have found a bad omen, but you keep on pencil pushing!"
"I'll see you later, Tegs." The older elf replied with a smile at the girl's complaining.
"The man is keeping me down, Seti!" Tegwen declared. "The man!"
"Bye, Tegwen." Her sister said one last time. Pouting, the younger elf turned toward the door and walked out. She stuck her tongue out at her sibling one last time, only to have it returned before shutting the door.
Obviously, the girl wasn't the only one to sense the disturbance, given that other elves sensed it too, but she couldn't seem to find anyone willing to help her investigate. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she thought about who all she could ask. Akira would call her crazy, and Clarence is, well, Clarence. Cloven hooves were not made to be chasing strange forces, or in case of emergency, running away from them. In the end, there was no one. Tegwen was on her own.
The girl stared at the sidewalk as she trekked onward, only looking up at the sound of a vehicle moving down the road. It was the H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. bus, coming back from dropping people off from their training workshops for the day. It made her think that maybe she should try going again going to a meeting, or maybe talking to her sister about what she could possibly do to earn some money. Tegwen's thoughts came to a halt as the bus did the same, stopping suddenly with screeching tires.
"What the fuck?!" demanded the driver, honking the horn. "Get out of the road!"
Tegwen's eyes shifted to the front of the vehicle and set her sights on two figures. Both were dressed from head to toe, wearing gloves, hoods, and covering their faces. They were most likely vampires, judging from how protected from the sun they were, but the elf didn't recognise them.
BANG!
Hands slammed on the hood of the bus, prying underneath the hood and bending it with supernatural strength. The driver kept shouting obscenities at the hooligans, but was rendered silent as the masked n'er do-well pulled a bottle out of their coat. Both the driver and the elf looking on immediately recognised what it was. Tegwen had only seen it in movies and read about it in books, but she knew that a bottle of alcohol with a soaked rag sticking out of the opening could mean one thing: a Molotov cocktail.
As the terrifying offender pulled out a lighter, the driver of the bus scrambled for the door, jumping out while they ignited the rag. The vandal then threw the concoction into the still-running engine while their accomplice held open the hood before both of them fled. They nearly tripped over themselves trying to get away from the combusting vehicle as it was set ablaze. Fire raged and the engine screamed, painting the sky with angry shades of red.
In a flash, Tegwen's mind was yelling at her to do something. Something was about to happen. Quickly, her arm shot out on reflex and her feet moved forward. Her hand gripped the fabric of the fleeing driver tightly and she turned herself around to run with him, pushing him along.
"Get down!" she barked, pushing the soldier into the pavement as his bus was consumed in a roaring inferno. With a hiss, it exploded.
BOOM!
Sparks flew, flying out of the wreckage alond with scrap metal. The fire reached for the heavens as the bystanders shielded themselves from debris. Tegwen looked over her shoulder; eyes unable to look away. They had to, however. They had to look off in the direction that the perpetrators had run off in. Just like that, she found her legs moving again.
Heavy boots slammed against concrete as she propelled herself forward. She snaked her way through the gathering crowd as sirens could be heard off in the distance. For all she knew, she was the only one who saw the vandals- other than the driver of course. She had to hurry, but her mind wasn't keeping up with her body. In reality, she knew that a supernatural that strong would also be much faster than an elf, and that she would be no match against such a person should she engage in combat, yet she still persisted.
As she rounded the corner, there was no one in sight, but her ears perked up a bit at the sound of screaming. This was no ordinary scream, however. This was not a scream out of fear, but out of pain. The hair on the back of Tegwen's neck stood on end. The blood seemed to disappear from her limbs, rendering them numb. The pounding of her own heart in her ears almost drowned out the whimpering that followed the sound, but it still registered.
Eyes wide, she stood there, frozen. The girl knew what direction the sound had come from, but wasn't sure if she wanted to follow it. She sensed no danger, but was wary. There was definitely someone- or something there, and it had hurt someone badly. Now, she had a choice. Tegwen could follow the sound, or she could walk away. Both didn't sound at all that pleasant. Desperately, she wanted to know who did this and what happened to them, but she was scared. "Terrified" may be more accurate.
While the air was cold, she was still sweating. Her brow furrowed and her teeth grit together, bracing herself for what was to come. Summoning every ounce of courage she had, she kept going. Running, she ignored the sounds of fire sirens and kept in pursuit, harshly making her way to the spot where the sound had come from. The elf's foot slammed hard on the ground in order to stop herself, but that may not have been the wisest of moves, as she was not alone.
She gazed into the darkness that dwelled between two buildings, hearing the sounds of writhing coming from within its depths. With the light provided, she could see two figures on the ground, clutching at their legs. They were not alone, either. There was a third figure in the darkness, illuminated by the light of a cell phone. Twgwen—the poor girl—couldn't make out what exactly they were saying, as every part of her mind was honed in on traces of blue.
There was only one person who could have hair of that particular hue, and it wasn't coming from the cellphone. Everyone in Gehenna had heard stories. Urban legends were told by word of mouth for decades, ever since his first appearance back in the sixties. Fairytales, folksongs, words of warning—the symbol of the dog had become associated with evil, death, and darkness. Only one person could have hair of blueish black like this.
The Watchdog.
Suddenly the elf's legs felt weak and she could no longer run away. The mumbling of the monster on the phone was lost on her, as he senses only remained focused on the man's form. A blade held within a scabbard was gripped in his other hand. He must have sliced the ligaments in the hooligans' legs. Surely, the girl was going to die. As the man hung up the phone, she stiffened.
Slowly, the watchdog's head turned, revealing only a single, sapphire eye as he looked over his shoulder. Sapphire became crimson, glowing vibrantly and cutting through the darkness of the alley. Tegwen had been seen. This was it. She was going to perish at the watchdog's blade.
"You should get out of here." Spoke the beast, his voice sounding familiar, but shaking the girl's bones. "H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. will be here to pick up these idiots for questioning soon. It's best if you're gone by then."
Unfortunately, the girl was only able to pick up parts of his warning through her own fear. One of the supernaturals who attacked the bus at the Watchdog's feet shifted so that they could see who the man was talking to. It was their voice that snapped Tegwen to her senses.
"Tegwen! Run!" they shouted, forcing the elf to wake up. She didn't have time to think about the fact that they knew her name, but only about getting away somehow.
Her feet scrambled to get herself upright and run. She didn't look back, either. She didn't want to. What if she looked back and the Watchdog was right behind her, baring his teeth? Tegwen didn't stop running, even when she got back to the Town Welfare building where her sister worked. She didn't stop running until she was home with the door slammed shut behind her and locked up tight.
Backing away from the door, she almost tripped over herself as she watched out for anything that could have followed her. There was nothing, though. Her sixth sense picked up nothing, but she had to be sure. That was the Watchdog. There was no doubt in her mind. Since that was the case, she had to be more careful than anyone has ever been. Only a handful of people in Gehenna have been known to see the Watchdog and live to tell about it. There was Sister Dorothy, "Baby Face" Baldassare, and a few others. There was a Girasol member called "Fangless" Shaun who had his fangs ripped out by the Watchdog decades ago, and he still wants revenge. You have to be somebody in Gehenna to get away unscathed, and since Tegwen wasn't a person of any importance, she was surely in danger.
Gehenna was dangerous. First the bus was blown up in front of the Welfare Building, and now the Watchdog was making his rounds? Something was wrong. There was also that bizarre energy in B-Block that she couldn't identify. Could they be related? She didn't know. She was too scared to think.
When Tegwen finally tripped and fell on her rear, her eyes still stayed trained on the front door, waiting for something to happen. Hours passed, and nothing happened, still. It wasn't until her sister came home that she broke from her trance, but by then she was certain that there was something amiss.
