Mai's POV


When I woke this morning, Victor was the first person I thought of. Yesterday he seemed indecisive on what to believe and I hoped the he'd believed me with what I'd told him. Maybe he'll be more careful where the council is concerned. I sighed I knew that I can't protect everyone from the council, but I can warn people about them.

Running into Malia was a fun surprise and I figured she was here with Victor to spy on Stephen. She confirmed this when I said I was going to meet up with Stephen at one.

Arriving at SPR and not finding Stephen already there was a little irritating, but there was nothing I could do but wait. Talking with everyone and seeing Naoki again was fun.

I gave a faint smile as I heard the anger in Stephen's voice. I knew he didn't like Malia as we had very similar views and apparently, he'd stated that he could only stand one of me, plus she did something that pissed him off to the point he can't stand being anywhere near her. Looking at Malia I saw that she was smirking. The woman knew that she irritated the man and enjoyed it which was one of the reasons that I liked her. It didn't hurt that she was a kick as demon hunter on top of not being someone who made excuses for anything she did.

"I am here at the request of Mai, plus, I knew it would piss you off," she said as she went to sit next to Yasu with me following her, but instead of sitting down I leaned against the arm of the couch.

"I didn't request to speak with you! I wanted to speak to Mai alone!" Stephen replied with venom in his voice.

"Hmm, there are several other people in this room which makes it kinda impossible to speak with Mai alone dontcha think?" Malia retorted obviously trying to goad him into an argument.

"Malia, that's enough. Stephen, she is staying so get over whatever prejudice you have of her and start talking about what you want from me," I said ending the fight before it began. Malia gave me a devious smile, but said nothing.

Stephen had a scowl on his face. "What I wanted to talk to you about was to see if you would start a demon hunter society of your own here in Japan…."

I stopped him before he went on any further, "No, absolutely not! I want no part in this crazy scheme of yours."

"Now hang on Mai. Don't discredit his idea before you've heard everything. To be honest he has piqued my interest and you know how hard that is," Lia said before Stephen could argue with me.

I sighed before saying, "Go on."

Stephen smiled in appreciation which probably cost him some of his pride. "Well, the situation in Scotland has apparently gotten progressively worse since you left. Listening to the older hunters you challenged the council as often as you could and that the council hated you with a passion as you knew the laws of the society to a t. More and more of the older hunters are disappearing without a trace. No one knows where they're going or if they're even alive. The newer members don't question anything they're being told and just take commands as they are."

This alarmed me as my brothers were a part of the older hunters and the council. "Are my brothers okay? They aren't part of those who have disappeared?" I asked terrified to hear the answer.

Everyone looked taken aback at my questions, even Lin's shiki were surprised, but I didn't care, I'd already lost to much. I couldn't stand the thought of losing my brothers too, plus, we couldn't afford to lose any onishi demon hunters. Lia looked tense as she was probably thinking the same thing.

"What? No, they're fine in fact they seem to be the council's favorite demon hunters as they get most of the job requests that the council receive. Plus, with them being a part of the council it would be hard for them to disappear without raising any suspicion," Stephen said in reply.

An icy chill went down my spine as Lia and I shared a look of concern. I said, "Lia you need to contact Orion. We need to get Ryoichi and Jared out of there and any others like us. This situation has gotten more serious than we originally thought."

Malia nodded before saying, "I agree and I think Orion would agree too. I think we should mention starting an official society to Orion. It's time to let the council know that we still exist and that we'll fight back. You of all people know how dangerous that council is, especially with some of their contacts."

"Wait, so Jou-chan is a demon hunter? How come we're just now finding out?'' Monk asked after Malian had finished talking.

I knew everyone I worked with would be shocked at what had been revealed, but there was nothing I could do about it. I know I should have said something at the very beginning of working with them, but honestly, I didn't want the questions. There are just somethings better left in the past.

"You're just catching onto this?!" Ayako screeched as she hit Monk upside the head with her purse.

"Ow you old hag that's not what I meant. What I was asking was if Mai was a demon hunter or a ghost hunter, which is she working for?" he said in reply.

I had completely forgotten about being asked to come back to work for SPR and to be honest I'd love to go back to working for them, but the risk of having a demon hunter is too great a risk.

I didn't reply and noticed that everyone was staring at me waiting for my answer. I gave them a small smile before saying, "I would love to come back and work with everyone, but I can't. My presence is too great of a risk to you all."

Stephen nodded his head before saying, "Mai is correct it is too dangerous for her to be around you all, now that you know what she is. It'll be safer for her and for you guys if she works as solely."

Naru narrowed his eyes at Stephen. "Why?"

Stephen didn't get the chance to answer Naru's question as Naoki spoke up. "If the Celtic Demon stays with you all it would draw the attention of many demons."

I rolled my eyes at how Naoki explained the dangers of having a demon hunter on the team. Monk's eyebrows came down over his eyes. I could tell that he was confused as were the rest minus Lin, Stephen, and Malia.

"I don't see what the problem is. So, what if Mai draws the attention of demons?"

Instead of letting anyone else explain I spoke up. "The reason is the stronger the demon hunter the more demons they attract and the demons that are generally attracted are of the higher levels. There's a saying amongst the demon hunters once a demon hunter always a demon hunter born a demon hunter die a demon hunter."

Stephen spoke up shortly after I finished speaking. "I never understood that saying."

Malia gave him a condescending look before saying, "Really, what's there not to understand. When you're not born a demon hunter and you become one you're a demon hunter till you even if you retire. If you're born a demon hunter there is no retiring."

"I'm sorry, but I must be slow because I still don't understand the saying," John said with an apologetic smile.

I smiled in return and said, "John what it means is that anyone who is not born into the profession can retire, but they may be called upon either to give their insight or help in a particular case. Those who are born into this job don't get to retire because they're typically killed before they reach their fortieth birthday. The oldest demon hunter I know of lived to be fifty years old. Demons tend to kill us hunters at any chance they can get."

"Oh," was John's reply and by the looks of it several people were not happy with that answer.

Stephen's eyes knit together. "Wait so what you're saying is that I'll be able to retire, but you won't be able to make it past the age of forty. That's just wrong. Wouldn't your family lineage negate that issue or what not? I mean you are like what the fiftieth generation of demon hunters."

I could have killed him at that moment in time. I didn't even know that he knew how many generations there were in my family, not even Malia knew that information. Glancing at Malia I could tell that she was upset about him knowing and not her. It's not that I didn't trust her it was just that I didn't trust anyone with that information.

"That is somewhat correct on what generation I am and no I'm not telling you the exact number. I don't know how you got that information, but whoever told you should have known better. And to answer your question no it doesn't make a difference, if anything it makes me more of a target."

He just shrugged his shoulders and looked away. Everyone else looked upset even Malia looked uncomfortable which was unusual. There wasn't anything I could do to alleviate their fears or concerns.

"Why didn't you tell us when we worked together," Yasu asked looking somewhat hurt.

I was amazed that everyone was taking it so well and didn't react like I expected them too. Then again, they could be to shocked to say anything.

"The less you knew about me being a demon hunter the better for you all."

Naoki added to what I said, "We demons tend to leave those who have no knowledge about demon hunters alone, that is as long as we don't think harming you would've helped us defeat the hunter."

I smiled at everyone's facial expressions at Naoki's monotone voice. I knew some of them would still feel as if I didn't trust them, but I couldn't with that

"It's not that I didn't trust you all it was just easier for you all to think that I was clumsy and a danger magnet, which is somewhat true."

"Mai, I still don't see how this would prevent you from coming back to work for SPR. We deal with dangers on every case we go to, even the ones that are supposed to be simple. Lin may not be a demon hunter, but he knows how to fight against one and I'm sure there are talismans out there that prevent demons from harming us," Madoka said speaking up for the first time since I entered the room. Her small speech received several nods of approval and even some vocal ones.

I sighed running a hand through my hair. I didn't want to start a society and definitely didn't want to reveal what I was. I was about to respond to Madoka saying that I truly did want to work for SPR again when I heard a faint voice in the distance, it was the same one from my dreams. I cocked my head to the side trying to catch what the woman was saying, but it seemed that her voice was getting further away the moment I started to hear it.

"Mai? What's wrong? Mai!" That was the last thing I heard before everything went black and I was thrust into a vision or something along that line.

When I woke up everything was pitch dark with the exception of the will-o'-wisps that surrounded me. Getting up I looked around, there was nothing not even sound.

"Hello?" As I spoke voice seemed to echo back at me.

Nothing, no reply came my way. Picking a random direction, I started walking, the will-o'-wisps following me the entire way. It wasn't long before I started hearing the woman in the distance. Speeding up my pace I soon found myself enveloped in a bright light. When the light faded I realized I was in the underground cave that we used as a meeting place.

Looking around I noticed that all of the furniture that was in the room was gone. I panicked for a second before I realized that I had to be in the room before we took it over. There was a noise at the entrance of the cave causing me to whirl around and face the source of the noise. It was Orion. I sighed in relief when I saw him. I don't know why I was so afraid when I heard a noise as nothing can hurt me in the dream plane.

Orion was in his normal gear of black tank top, cargo shorts, and army boots. Standing at six feet eight inches it was funny to see him decked out in all black with a Wakizashi strapped to each thigh. A Wakizashi sword, which was one of the smallest swords in the world ranging from twelve inches to twenty for inches. Orion's sword was twelve inches which made it funnier to see him wield something so small. I always pictured him the type to wield a halberd or something similar, but then again most don't see me as the type to favor halberds.

Figuring that Orion was going to be doing something important I sat down one of the many natural cave wall shelves. He lifted a brow before he walked towards me. It was as if he could see me which was impossible since I was the only one out of the onishies who could transport onto the dream plane.

"Well if you're getting settled then whatever situation you need to talk about is serious," Orion said as he came to a stop before me.

This caused me to jump and stutter. "Y-you can see me! How is this? I'm on the dream plane. I thought I was the only one who could enter onto the dream plane."

He smiled at me before he sat next to me and said, "Yes, I can see you and no we're not on the dream plane or the spirit plane. We're on the plane in between the mortal world and the demonic world and no, the demonic world is not the same as hell. True demons have their own plane of existence and we onishi demon hunters have a plane in between the dream plane, the demon plane, and the mortal plane. It would seem that neither Ryoichi nor Jared have spoken to you of this."

"No, they have not. Why is it that we have a different plane?" I asked now curious.

As Orion looked at me something flit through his eyes, but whatever it was, was gone before I could identify it. He sighed and said, "Since they didn't tell you about this plane I bet they didn't tell you what we are fully. Where is your body currently?"

His question through me off guard. "I believe it is still at my work in Japan."

"You still working at SPR?"

"Yes," I replied a little wary at where this might be leading to. He looked uncomfortable like something was wrong and he didn't know how to go about fixing it. Orion's head snapped up turning to look in the direction of the cave's entrance.

"All right, then I will see you shortly," he said before mist rose into the cavern overshadowing him.

"Orion?" I called out wondering what he meant by he'd see me soon.

"Orion!" I shouted as the ground gave way from underneath me.