The Hunter Games
Part 2
Xxx
In Washington DC, Billie Jenkins was working late in her office. The work of a director was never done, though she hated how much of it was just paperwork. She never really went out on missions anymore, as she had her younger agents for that. Part of her longed for some action, though she also had her family to consider. She could not risk leaving Lexie and Charlie on their own just because she wanted to feel the thrill of fighting evil again. She sighed and checked her phone, seeing several missed texts from her kids. It was the night of Charlie's first football game, so she should be there to support him.
"Screw this paperwork." Billie remarked as she closed her laptop.
Billie got up from her seat and grabbed her coat. She couldn't wait to get out of her stiff pantsuits and into some comfortable clothes so she could watch her son play football. After that, she would take them to Charlie's favorite pizza place. She was about to leave the office when a column of orbs appeared before her. She groaned, realizing that she had called this upon herself. The orbs formed into Kyle Brody, along with a woman in her twenties with long brown hair.
"Kyle." Billie said. "I wish I could say it was good to see you, but I get the feeling this isn't just a visit."
"I wish the same thing, Billie." Kyle replied. "We need your help. This is Anne Maria, one of my charges."
"Wait, Billie?" Anne Maria asked. "As in the Billie Jenkins? She is your mysterious contact?"
"The one and only." Billie replied. "I didn't realize my name was still so famous."
"You're one of the first Chosen." Anne Maria said in admiration. "I've heard everything about you. You are basically my predecessor."
"Anne Maria and her friends are the current Chosen." Kyle added in context.
"Ah, I see." Billie noted. "That makes me feel really old."
"I have so many questions." Anne Maria said. "But that will have to wait. Like Kyle said, we need your help. My friends have been abducted."
"They were taken by witch hunters." Kyle said.
A chill ran down Billie's spine the moment she heard the words witch hunters. It brought back many memories, both good and heartbreaking. She had hoped to never cross paths with them again. She would rather deal with any force of evil out there, at least then she wouldn't be reminded of what hunters had cost her family. She needed to make sure her children never found out the truth about their past.
"I'm sorry, I know this must be difficult." Kyle continued. "But if anyone is capable of finding Macy and Sabine, it's you."
"Of course." Billie said quickly. "I will do what I can. Sit and tell me everything."
After getting them both a cup of coffee, Billie sat down and listened to what Anne Maria told her about the hunters and their attack. They seemed to be invested in her specifically, which sounded strange. Hunters hated all witches equally, so why would she be more important than the others? There had to be more to the story.
"What are you thinking?" Kyle asked.
"A lot of different things." Billie replied. "First of all, we need to find the hunter base. They are traditional, which means they'll want to burn your friends at the stake after passing judgement on them. That sounds horrible, but at least it gives us some time."
"What else?" Kyle asked.
"We need to find out why the hunters wanted you specifically, Anne Maria." Billie said. "Is there anything in your past that could be of interest to them?"
"I don't know." Anne Maria replied. "My family is Italian and goes back generations. Perhaps we crossed paths with the hunters somewhere down the line, but I never dealt with them myself."
"Anything more recent?" Billie asked. "Something that would make you a target to them? Something that drew their attention or an innocent you lost?"
"I… lost my sister a few years ago." Anne Maria admitted as tears formed in her eyes. "There was an evil spirit at my campus, leading to unexplained deaths. My sister vanquished it, but it took her life in the process."
"I'm sorry for your loss." Billie said as she took the young witch's hands in her own. "I know the feeling of losing a sister."
"Does it ever get easier?" Anne Maria asked.
"The feeling never truly goes away, but it does get better in time." Billie replied. "She will always have a place in your heart, but you have to keep on living for the both of you."
"Thank you." Anne Maria said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"What happened to Antoinette was years ago." Kyle noted. "The unexplained deaths caused some media attention, but Anne Maria was never a person of interest."
"Any more recent cases as the Chosen?" Billie asked.
"Not anything I can think of." Anne Maria said. "We vanquished plenty of evil, but we never saved the world or anything. Not like you did."
"Saving the world comes with a price." Billie noted. "We can't keep guessing at their motivations. We should focus on finding their base of operations and go from there. We'll start by sending agents to clean up your apartment and bring the bodies here."
"To do what?" Kyle asked.
"Kyle, come on." Billie replied with a smirk. "Have you been a Whitelighter for so long that you've forgotten how to be a government agent? We're dealing with humans, so we're going to do some human forensic work."
Xxx
In the hospital of Portland, twenty-seven year old Delaney was doing evening rounds on the cardiology floor. As a second-year medical resident, she was checking on the patients of the surgeon she was assigned to. Unfortunately, the surgeon in question had little interest in teaching and had taken off for a dinner party, leaving Delaney alone to pick up his slack. After finishing up with the last patient, the young blonde woman updated the charts and signed off. After a quick shower and getting changed, she entered the parking garage. As she headed to her car, she stopped when she got the feeling that she was being followed.
"Hello?" Delaney asked. "Anyone there?"
There was no response, so Delaney shrugged it off. She was probably just tired and imaging things. However, as she walked ahead, the lights in the garage suddenly went out. Nervously, Delaney reached into her purse for her emergency potion. She was not just a doctor, but a witch as well, so she knew how to defend herself. However, she anything but practiced in fighting, as she had always preferred to lead a normal life and build a career instead.
"This isn't funny." Delaney called out. "Whoever you are, I'm armed."
Again there was no response, but Delaney heard footsteps, so she quickly hid behind a car. She grabbed her phone and tried to call for help, but her phone didn't have a signal. The elevator was too far back, so her best chance was getting to her car. She took a deep breath and began running. The footsteps followed her, so she threw the potion. The moment it hit the floor, it flashed a blinding light across the entire parking garage. She heard men behind her scream out.
As she reached her car, she quickly opened the door, though before she could get in, a black van blocked her exit. The side door opened and two masked men in body armor jumped out, holding guns. Delaney held out her hand and conjured a baseball bat to defend herself, though before she could even swing it, she was shot in the arm with a dart.
Her baseball bat faded away in an orange glow and she fell to the floor. Pulling out the dart, Delaney could already feel the tranquilizer entering her bloodstream, meaning she only had a few seconds. She rolled under the car and intentionally dropped her phone. She screamed as someone grabbed her leg and pulled her back, leaving the phone behind.
Xxx
Back in Washington DC, Lexie Jenkins was sitting on the bleachers of her former school, watching a football game. The young blonde hated being back, as she had bad memories here, but she wanted to support her little brother in his first official game. Unfortunately, Charlie had been sitting on the bench the entire time. Lexie could see him looking absolutely miserable, though he was doing his best to hide it. She checked her phone to see if her mom had replied at all, but there were no new messages. She was probably working late again.
"Lexie Jenkins?" A voice asked.
Lexie looked to her side and saw one of her former classmates, a girl named Lisa, standing next to her. They were friends once upon a time, though they had stopped hanging out when the rumors about Lexie started. Things only got worse when she was outed to the entire school as a lesbian, after which the bullying started. Lisa had never bullied her personally, though she had never defended her either, so Lexie wasn't exactly in the mood to talk.
"Hey Lisa." Lexie replied reluctantly.
"It's been ages, I haven't seen you since you transferred to that private school." Lisa said as she sat down. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Lexie replied. "I'm just here for Charlie."
"Yeah, I saw he made the team." Lisa noted. "Don't worry about him being benched, the coach always makes new players wait."
"Good to know." Lexie said.
"So… listen, I've been wanting to apologize for a long time." Lisa admitted. "What happened back then, it wasn't cool and I should have said something. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Lexie replied. "We were just kids and I get that you were scared of being bullied yourself."
"I guess you're right." Lisa said. "I just wanted you to know that I've changed and that I would never do such a thing now."
"It doesn't really change what happened though." Lexie noted. "Don't apologize just to make yourself feel better."
"That's not…" Lisa quickly said. "I meant what I said, Lexie."
"Great." Lexie replied. "I hope you learned from it, so other kids won't have to go through what I went through at this school, but it's too late to fix things between us."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." Lisa said as her face turned red. "Take care, Lexie."
Lisa got up and hurried away. Lexie felt a little bad about being so harsh to her, but she needed to hear the truth. Her time at this school had been horrible thanks to the bullies and people like Lisa that just stood by. One apology wasn't going to change that.
A whistle sounded, meaning the football game was over. Charlie's team had won, so he was cheering along with his team, despite being disappointed that he didn't get to play. As the team left the field, Lexie headed to the parking lot to wait for Charlie, being careful not to run into any familiar faces again. About fifteen minutes later, Charlie left the locker room and said goodbye to his teammates. As he walked over to her, Lexie noticed how much taller he was than her. He wasn't that annoying little kid anymore, which was a little frustrating to admit at times.
"Sorry you didn't get to play." Lexie said.
"It's okay, nobody hits the field the first time." Charlie replied. "I'm still glad you came though."
"Of course." Lexie said. "Anything for my little brother."
"Little?" Charlie asked with a smile. "I could bench-press you, sis."
"Maybe, just don't go turning into one of those dumb jocks." Lexie replied.
"Never." Charlie said. "I see what some of the seniors are like and I don't want to be anything like them."
"Good." Lexie replied. "Sorry mom didn't make it, want to head over to that pizza place you like? My treat."
"Always." Charlie said. "I'm actually glad mom isn't there. I want her to see me play, not sit on my ass the entire time. She can do that at home."
"You'll get your chance soon, I promise." Lexie replied. "Let's get out of here."
Just as Lexie and Charlie were about to leave the parking lot, they stopped when a swirl of orbs appeared before them and materialized into three figures. Lexie recognized two of them, Liam and his younger sister Margot. Aside from Liam being her classmate, they had grown up together due to their parents being friends, so they knew each other pretty well. Margot was the same age as Charlie, though Lexie had not seen her in years. She had become a pretty girl, looking older than she actually was. Lexie was actually jealous at the cool leather jacket she was wearing. She had no idea who the third person was, though he looked a little stiff and pompous.
"Liam, what the hell?" Lexie said. "What if someone saw you?"
"Sorry, we stopped by your house, but nobody was home." Liam replied.
"What are you even doing here?" Lexie asked. "Who is this?"
"The name is Simon Marks the second." The third guy said in a British accent. "And I might add that coming here was not my first choice."
"What's going on?" Charlie asked.
"We needed to get somewhere safe." Margot replied. "Simon here is in danger."
"Margot…" Charlie muttered as his face turned red. "It's uh… good to see you."
Lexie smiled at her brother's awkwardness. She remembered how he had always had a huge crush on Margot, even when they were just little kids. He used to follow her around like a puppy dog. The redhead had always enjoyed the attention, though she had never expressed interest beyond that.
"Charlie, hi." Margot noted with a smile. "Wow, you've really changed."
"Yeah, I'm actually on the football team now." Charlie replied.
"Okay, let's focus on why you're here first." Lexie noted somewhat annoyed. "You said this Simon fellow was in danger. Why come here?"
"We were actually looking for your mom." Liam said. "When we couldn't find her at your house, we hoped she would be here."
"Why my mom?" Lexie asked. "What's going on?"
"Well, we figured she was our best shot with your family history and all." Liam admitted. "You see, Simon was attacked by witch hunters."
"Witch hunters?" Lexie asked confused. "What are you talking about? What does that have to do with my family?"
"Wait, you don't know?" Liam replied nervously. "Oh crap, no, I heard my parents talking about it once. I thought you knew."
"Knew what?" Lexie asked. "What do you know about my family that I don't?"
"If you know something, you have to tell us." Charlie added.
"Alright, I guess I already said too much." Liam said reluctantly. "I'm sorry you have to find out like this, but your dad was a witch hunter."
Lexie froze. That was impossible, it had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Her dad was a police inspector. He had no idea about magic until he crossed paths with his mom on a case. They had fallen in love after their mom had helped him solve the case. There was no way her dad could be a witch hunter. She only had loving memories of him, so he could never have been some creep that hated and killed witches. After all, he fell in love with a witch, his children were witches.
"No!" Charlie snapped at him as he clenched his fists. "You're lying!"
At that moment, fire erupted all around them. Streams of fire shot out of a dumpster while bushes burned and even a car exploded in flames. Several car alarms went off due to the explosion. As the others ducked for cover, Lexie just looked at her little brother, realizing what had just happened. After years of having his powers bound because he couldn't control them, Charlie's firestarter powers had returned in full force.
Xxx
In the headquarters of the Witch Hunters, Makayla Porter stood in front of several computer screens while drinking a cup of coffee. She was monitoring the advancement of her teams through the cameras installed in their protective gear. While her team in Portland had succeeded in capturing the Phillips witch, her team in London had failed miserably due to the interference of two unknown teenagers. She had no idea how they had gotten involved, but they posed a problem. She needed another talk with Sonya to figure out who she was dealing with.
"Keep monitoring." Makayla said to one of her subordinates. "Let me know once the San Francisco teams are in place."
Makayla left the office and headed back to the prison cell where they kept Sonya. As she crossed the hallway with cells, she saw her hunters put the two witches they had caught in Houston into their cells. Both were still unconscious, so the transport had gone smoothly. She took a deep breath before stepping into Sonya's cell.
"I was expecting you." Sonya said from the comfort of her chair.
"We had interference in London." Makayla replied. "The Marks witch got away."
"I know." Sonya admitted. "The cards did not reveal it at first, but I sense that something changed the future I foresaw. The course of events has been changed."
"Who are they?" Makayla asked. "Other witches?"
"Yes and no." Sonya replied. "They do not factor into my plans, but it seems that a vision has set them on a path that crosses ours."
"Just tell me what I need to know." Makayla demanded.
"I already told you." Sonya noted. "While their interference has changed things a bit, your path remains the same. You must confront the family ties that you deny exist. They are the key to obtaining everything we need."
Xxx