...
Hunting is going on
Only the fast will survive
In the forest we prowl
..

Claire Speaks

The pillow under my head may has well have been a stone. The bed itself I sank into, the mattress molding around my body and I sighed, this at least was bearable. Outside the grubby window the sun was half in the sky, the dim orange light piercing through the dark cloud that hung around.

Last night was a bit of a blur; Adam had passed out on the lounge for most of the evening and Jesse returned from who knows where with an arms full of alcoholic beverages and Chinese… from china.
It was still hard to believe that someone could have such powers like he does, but then again I guess I had seen stranger. I could remember arguing with Ben, trying to convince him that having someone like Jesse on our side was better than him being against us and I think he started to come around, sharing a beer or four with Jesse as I chilled on the lounge with Pearl in my lap.

It was hard to relax fully though, especially when I felt so at home. The smells were so familiar now and the people I would lay my life down for.

Sitting up in bed, I felt my head swirl and I cursed at the potent hake they forced me to drink. I fell back down, warm and content to stay there until I heard someone else move up or down the stairs. The room I was in was small, tucked at the end of the top floor corridor. It must have been a storage room for Adam but he cleaned it out whatever sparse belongings he had in there enough for me to sleep in and call it home for the time being.

Home.
I could still smell the scent that was my bedroom once upon a time, the lavender soaps my mother used to put in my draws and the constant smell of flowers. It all changed once my father left though; replaced with the unvarying smell of alcohol and neglect. The home we had to move into was a far cry from the grand home we had before and in a neighborhood that was better left off the map. It didn't hurt to think about when I left my mother there, got on my bike and left for the last time; it didn't hurt one bit. What hurt was that my mother let me.

Rubbing my dry eyes, I yawned and sat up slowly, pulling my messy hair back into a bun and slipping from the bed. I was still in the clothes from yesterday; Chinese stains and all. After ruffling through my duffle I pulled out some clean clothes and my toilet bag, desperately needing a shower and a coffee.

Glancing back at the practically empty room, I couldn't help but wonder why Adam had hardly anything in his house. It was a nice building, old and crumbling but nothing a bit of paint couldn't fix. Something like this must have been in the family for years, or he had hardly lived here very long.

Feeling the chill up my arms from the cold air I opened the door and glanced out. Everything was still pretty quiet and downstairs was like a sea of darkness.
Quietly making my way to the bathroom, I yawned again as I began to take my jacket off. As I reached out for the door handle, the door swung open and I bumped into a warm body.

'Sorry Claire.' Ben said with a smile. Stopping myself from swaying I looked up from his bare chest to his smiling face.
Damn him, damn him and his smile.
'Sleep well?' he asked as we swapped positions. The steam in the bathroom was welcomingly warm and I gave Ben my best smile as I tried to avoid looking anywhere but down. He tugged the towel tighter around his hips and scratched his wet hair as I leant on the door.
'Fine, you?'
'Not bad, the floor can only be so comfy, bout ready to jump in with you.' He blinked a few times before he sighed and I had to battle with myself to not stammer out a reply or show awkwardness in my eyes.

'Look I'm sorry for being an ass before, about Jesse.'
Shaking my head, I laughed slightly and remembered them getting along like thieves.
'Don't worry about it, it looked like you two got along alright last night.'
'Yeah, some of the stuff that he can do, it is actually really cool.'
I laughed, cool. At least he was a bit more lively about this, I would have hated to choose between Jesse and Ben, I considered them both my friends now. But perhaps it would be Ben, after all we had been through two hunts together now and he wasn't the son of a demon.
I slapped myself mentally; who cares who he was the son of, what mattered was that he didn't follow down that path.

'Well I'll catch you at breakfast.'
'Yeah, no worries.' At that he nodded and moved down the other end of the corridor, opposite mine. Closing the bathroom door quickly, I stripped out of my clothes and straight under the warm shower. I tried to keep my eyes closed most of the time, the hideous brown tiles of the bathroom not something I like to look at. Keeping my hair dry, I stepped out and stared at the reflection in the mirror. Knotted blonde hair spilt around my face as I worked on straightening it and my blue eyes today were almost a pale crystal. Surprising, I would have thought them to be bloodshot; I didn't have a hangover but my head was hurting with all this going on.

Now dressed in my jeans and a grey band shirt, I stepped from the warm bathroom to the cool house. Luckily I was saved by the smell of bacon and the light laughter and chatter down stairs. Dumping my towel and washing in the room, my bare feet were silent as I stepped down the wooden stairs lightly.

As I turned the corner, I almost fell flat on my face as Pearl ran in front of me, begging for a cuddle. I chuckled, mumbling her name and how she was such a good girl as I rubbed her ears, finding her tickle spot down her back and watching her foot shake like crazy.
'Go on, save me a seat.'
Pearl ran into the kitchen, turning back around to watch me as I entered.

A small heater was going in the corner, making me realise just how cool the house was and I instinctively moved closer.
'Morning.'
I waved back at the three men sitting at the table, a plate of bacon in the middle of the table.
'Take a seat.' Jesse gestured to the empty spot at the table and I smiled as I took a seat at the head, Ben beside me as he pushed an empty plate to me.
'Coffee?'
'Please.' I said and munched on a dry bit of bacon. Slid in front of me next was a bowl of scrambled eggs and dished onto my plate a cooked tomato and some toast. I eyed the guys interestingly as they sat back, silent now and sipping coffee, watching me as I ate.

'What…?'
Jesse smiled and handed me the coffee, thanking him and quickly smiling around the mug as I sipped. The guys shrugged and I narrowed my eyes as Ben cheekily shared a grin with Adam.
'Just debriefing the boys…' Adam chuckled but my eyes narrowed even more and he smiled at me as Jesse took a seat, 'on some jokes. But they are too rude for a young lady such as yourself.'
'Oh I'm not that much of a lady.' I said teasingly but I didn't push to know what it was, the boys had to have their fun, otherwise it may end up being like having a bunch of monkeys when I needed navy seals.

The breakfast chatter continued until the sun was well into the sky, Adam exhaling loudly.
'So the second guy answered while still laughing; "I couldn't help it, I saw the third guy walk in with pineapples."'
Laughter broke out around the table, Pearl grumbling as I disturbed her head in my lap as I leant back, laughing hard. Jesse even cracked a smile at that one and Ben cheered triumphantly.
'I knew there had to be one you both laughed at.'
'I just find it sad that you can remember all things like that and not be able to recite a full exorcism.'

Again Adam cleared his throat and, wiping away some tears of laughter, the three of us took a deep breath as Adam stood.
'Let's go into my office hmm?'
He led the way, the three of us remaining still for a moment. This was it, we could choose to leave now and save Adam the effort or actually commit to this hunt through to the end.
Jesse stood, eyeing us both before he followed Adam, disappearing behind the wall along with Pearl. On my other side, Ben remained as still as myself, looking to me for an answer or order that I could barely give myself.
'Well come on then, otherwise we're going to look like the idiots.'

Ben grinned tensely and stood, walking beside me as we entered the study. Adam and Jesse were waiting for us, genuine smiles on their faces. It was a bit intimidating for me at least and I remained standing beisde the desk, Ben taking a seat with Jesse as Adam sat himself behind the heavy oak desk.

'Right, now I am assuming that we all get along, and I;m going to poin out now that I will not tolerate any arguing in this house. No fighting, no powers... save it for the hunt.'
We all glanced at each other before nodding, myself folding my arms and leaning back against the wall. I had no powers to play around with, and I didnt argue all the time, more often then not I growled.

As Adam pulled out a file, sorting through the paper, I looked across to Ben and Jesse as they mumbled between the two of them like two school girls. I rolled my eyes, they were younger than me, possibly the same age as one another and it made me feel old, responsible.
I know it is strange to talk about, I should stop before I start but I think if I kept it bottled up inside, it could just become a big mess. No, I won't say it, my feelings for Ben should remain under wraps until I can figure them out properly.

'Zeno is a being that has made himself known for a few months now,' Adam handed me some paper and I looked down at the map, black dots marking it all over. I tossed some over to Jesse who caught them, passing them straight to Ben. Of course he had seen them, and he focused on watching Adam as he discussed further.
'All over America there have been incidents and sightings, he isnt trying to keep a real low profile but the goverment, cops, Feds, nobody can really do anything about it so they ignore it, writing deaths off as natural or blaming some serial killer,' He eyed us all and frowned, 'you're all we have.'

'So what is it? A demon just on a rampage or some sort of monster...?' I asked, looking at the places on the map marked. They were small places; Filmore, Redmond, Selbon, Rochester, they were such small places, but it looked like at least one place to each state. I glared at the paper I held until my eyes hurt, moving to focus them on Pearl as she sat at my feet.

'We dont know. There are normal signs of demon activity; electrical storms and multiple unexplained deaths but thats about it.' Adam opened an old looking book, searching through pages until he frowned. 'What ever it is, its powerful, more than anything I have seen for a long time.' He grimaced as he leant back in his chair and in a second Jesse was there with a glass of water and his tablets. I had to blink a few times; I would never get used to that.

'How do we find it, I mean if it's randomly going all over the state, how can we know where it pops up next?'
'I don't know boy, I give you the info you work that out.' Adam grumbled, gulping down his tablets. Ben looked a bit stunned but nothing he couldnt handle.
'What he can tell you that will help is that Zeno has stayed in each town for two weeks at a time, a body total of eleven before he moves on.' Jesse answer, pulling out a larger map and spreading it over the table.

I leant on the table, scanning over the map as Ben moved to stand beside me. Jesses hand waved over the map, eyes closed until part of the map began to glow, a small ring of fire circling around a word. Upon opening his eyes, Jesse nervously smiled at us and Adam patted his hand.
'Good to know you didnt set the table on fire this time.'
'Right so it looks like Zeno is currently in... Racine.'

'Wow, didn't think it would be that easy.'
'It's not.' Jesse said, eyes flickering to Ben. I pulled my hair over my shoulder and patted the table, getting the boys attention back on the map. Adam grinned at me and I just gave a smirk back; being the eldest and the only girl, I guess I had more control than I first thought.

'Right so... we know where he is, how do we stop him? What does he even look like?'
At this Adam spun around and slapped another stack of papers on the table. The photos were scabby, blurry at best but it should a figure each time. I picked one up, staring at the human figure.
'This is it?'
'I'm sorry, you were expeting vogue magazine styled photography?'

I licked my lip, trying not to laugh.
'No just, he looks human...'
A gun clicked beside me and Jessee rolled his eyes as Ben readied his gun.
'Means we can kill him.'
I shuffled; unconvinced that it would be as easy as a bullet but it was better than knowing for a minute that this would be one of the hardest missions.
'Let's go hunting.'

..
Hunting is going on
We are a part of the wilderness
...

Enjoy guys, sorry if there any mistakes etc Promise the next chapter will be up asap.

Silver-Kirin
xXx