An entire day passed without any sunlight entering the cottage before the sun hid and the moon reigned the skies. When others slept all the creatures of the night came out, me among them. As soon as the bedside clock showed 9pm, I came out of the room, careful not to look at the brownish spots under the opposite door.
I walked downstairs, glancing at the smothering remains in the fireplace. Smoke twirled with sloth. There were no boots my size in the abandoned suitcase but I could find a flannel shirt. A shirt that reeked of death. It must have gotten that smell from its new owner.
I went to the kitchen, there was an exit. Even though it was the furthest point of the house and an inconvenient place to go outside, it was better than the sliding doors. Sliding doors really shouldn't be called doors, they were more like windows. Good people used doors, only bad people used windows.
My haversack rested on the countertop, waiting for me, ready for the hunt. Besides it rested an empty box. I had forgotten it existed at all until the day before, while picking up the things from my haversack I found it. Within was a silver hair stick and a note wishing me good luck with my hunt.
A strange gift if it weren't for the world in which I lived. Here hair sticks turn into daggers.
I took the haversack but left the box, I wouldn't need it. I walked to the door, my hand in the doorknob, when I saw myself in the mirror. Fair skin, gray eyes, raven black hair, a young man looked back at me. It seemed death really had changed me. Funny I had just realized.
I really wasn't the same. The man in the mirror grimaced and I opened the door.
"Hunt"- said a voice from above.
A crow, no, a raven flew down from the roof and perched on the fence. It turned its head to the side before repeating its message.
"Hunt''- croaked higher than before the bird.
This time the bird flew to me and I extended my hand, where the bird perched itself.
"Are you here to help me?- I whispered the raven
The bird responded by croaking "Hunt" and leaning its head into mine. The raven was so warm and soft I could have cried. Instead, I looked to the moon, full and bright against the endless night, and smiled.
"It seems I'm not alone" - I then looked at the bird -" It's now you and me"
I really wasn't the same, things were different. I needed a new name to match my new body, and so did my new friend.
"You will now be Felix. A beautiful name for a beautiful bird" -I told the bird
"Hunt"- responded Felix before flying to the fence again.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming."- then I added -"By the way, If you are interested my name is Canes, like the constellation"
Felix didn't seem to care a lot, but it didn't matter. I really wasn't telling it to him, or at least not only. It was a declaration, to me, to the moon and to whomever would listen.
I never regretted trusting Felix. Not even once was I led astray by him, as soon as night seemed to be ending he always had a place where I could hide from the sun. Not always the best places, I once had to spend a whole day in a cardboard box, but always safe.
Two weeks we spent hunting, he would find me a prey and I would put it down with my dagger. Hellhounds, a pair of dracaena, all of them died easily against my blade. Under the cover of the night I would stalk my prey until the chance to attack appeared, an effective method. Low risk and high reward, just like I liked.
But I was under no delusions, I knew that wouldn't be enough to kill the Nemean Lion. Heracles, the strongest demigod in history was unable to hurt the Lion directly, he had to resort to asfixia. No, I was under no delusions, these hunts were nothing more than a chance to learn how to control my new body.
I didn't know anything about my godly powers and how they behaved, I just knew that my powers came from the heart. Almost like a spider sense but influencing my mind and changing how I behave, heightening the thrill of the hunt. Ironic how much it resembled to fucking Bloodborn.
"Hunt, hunt" -said Felix from within my jacket, interrupting my musings.
The bird took out his head from my jacket, casually ruffling his feathers.
"Mmmm? Are you still cold?"
"Kekeke"- laughed the raven- "Prey, Prey!"
It took a second before I realized what Felix had said, there was a monster somewhere around. I stood up, careful not to fall from the roof, and took my haversack. I jumped slided down the drowning pipe and stood next to those accursed sliding doors.
No one came interested in what I had hidden in the room next to the stairs, so I made the cottage my refuge. Not out of anything other than necessity. Caves, boxes and holes weren't very reliable and as much as I didn't want to, Felix insisted on coming back here every once in a while. I only insisted on trying to burn it down but Felix didn't allow me, he would squawk and squawk, tossing and turning on the floor until I stopped for fear of him damaging himself.
And yet, Felix's insistence of living in the cottage didn't impede me to always enter through the kitchen and never go upstairs, sleeping instead in the cupboard.
My heart started beating like a drum and I slowed it, giving in to my instincts would grant me much more strength but I would lose all common sense. Perfection was in balance. The Rhythm of the Hunt resonated in my chest, pumping blood and strength in my muscles. With each heartbeat strength trickled in and my restraints started loosening. Instinctively I tapped twice my hair stick, watching as silver turned mercury and then into my nameless dagger. It had no name and it didn't need one, it was perfect.
Felix got out of my jacket and flew with laziness towards the town, his laughter resounding loudly. I pursued him, forgoing any roads. Gravel clashed against my purple boots, gradually turning into the concrete of a side alley.
"Kekekeke"- said Felix on my left.
The bird was perched on the top of a little building, maybe six or seven meters tall. I believe the building was a sports shop or something. Next to Felix, perched on the alley wall was an emergency stair. It was obvious what that annoying bird wanted, so I started climbing. There was no time to lose, at any moment the prey could hide or run and that only would senselessly prolong the hunt.
When I reached the top, Felix was waiting for me with impatience. He only ever stopped to sleep on my coat. When he saw me he flew away, this time in silence and at a much lower pace so that I could keep up to him.
You could never be sure what Felix wanted or how he would behave. He was chaotic in a charming way. Sometimes he guided me directly to the prey, other times he took a detour, quite often for a stupid reason. For instance, that time I had to sleep on the sewers because Felix decided he wanted a burrito from the floor. Despite all, he had my unconditional trust, maybe not in everything, but I trusted him in everything that mattered.
If he wanted me to jump between buildings I would. I let my heart beat faster before I started sprinting towards Felix, the wind ruffling my hair and the void below me. It wasn't long before Felix stopped, hanging on a signal some meters away.
No laughter, no crouching, just silence. Felix looked at me and then to the alley below. Where the alley I had previously been in was more open and near the countryside, this one seemed taken out of Gotham City. All dark and filthy, with just a light hanging above a door which lead to a pizzeria. It was the alley I had woken up on after I was cursed.
Some seconds passed and nothing happened. Before I would have relaxed but now I knew better, anytime anything could happen. As if to prove me right, the door opened letting out a metallic screeching sound. A woman came out to throw the trash.
Any normal person would have seen a jolly red-headed woman in a grease stained uniform. I saw a snake woman in a grease stained uniform, an ugly one at that. It truly would be a favor to the world to kill her.
Patiently I waited for the dracaena to throw the trash and meanwhile I tried to control my heartbeat. In a moment everything would be over.
The dracaena opened the trash can. I jumped, dagger in hand, towards her. She only realized I was there when I fell on her, pinning her to the ground. Then I cutted her head, my dagger cutting it like it was butter.
Blood spilled on the floor and then it turned into dust, the dracaena slowly following. Apparently, depending on how you kill them they turn into dust sooner or later. I stood up and Felix flew down, landing on my shoulder.
"Hunt, hunt"-he croaked.
"That one was quite clean, wasn't it?" - I responded him
"Kekeke. Hunt"- Felix laughed, then he added with an out of place feminine voice -"Kitty"
I was ready.
Wow, the last chapter ends with Canes killing a kid and now he is so blase, just enjoying off scream training with crow sensei.
Avoiding something, hum?
Was he truly responsible for the killing if his ability influenced him?
Well, stay tuned if you want to know what will happen.