Adi felt something heavy on his legs. Struggling to open his eyes, he found that it was too dark to make out anything. There was someone awkwardly straddling his waist with their hands on either side of his neck. The tips of their slender fingertips lightly touching behind his ears. A soft brush of hair was felt across his forehead as they breathed shallowly.

They smelled feminine. There was an ache in his heart as his groggy mind fumbled about to figure out his surroundings. All he could do was wrap his arms around this person. He held them firmly against his chest as he whispered in their ear.

“Janice… Look, I am so sorry about last night… I had a really bad day, and I wasn’t thinking right, but I love you. I’m going to call my stepdad as soon as he’s up. We’ll move in together and I’ll give you everything else you’ve asked for. We’re going to be alright.”

“Let go,” a voice quickly rasped back. “You’re making it hard for me to work.” Her tone was similar to Janice’s but it was slightly deeper. It lacked the lithe notes that he enjoyed so much.

Adi let his arms slip from around the stranger and let out a pained groan. They were in the back seat of some car he didn’t recognize, and a blanket was covering both of them. She straightened his head and closed her eyes. Something started to glow a faint pink color on her forehead.

“W-what?”

“Shut up. Whatever it is that you pissed off, it’s outside the car and he isn’t here yet.”

Adi realized at that moment just how close she was pressing up against him. Whatever she was doing felt nice. He cleared his throat and hoped she wouldn’t notice that the lower half of him was starting to react to the situation in a completely natural manner.

The woman ignored whatever was going on down there. “Just be quiet and I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“I’m getting tired of hearing that.” He stuffed his hand into his pocket so he could rearrange his awkwardness. 

“Quiet.” She frowned and lifted her body away from him. Her muscles strained from the uncomfortable position. “Your mentor is a friend of mine. He called me over because I live nearby. You’ve had a lot of life force drained out of you, but it doesn’t look like you’ve been injured. Right now, I’m trying to make sure you don’t die from exhaustion. I need you to stay quiet so I won’t have to die from you drawing its attention.”

A loud screech rang out, then a loud thud as something banged and slid down the side of the vehicle. The stranger pressed a finger to Adi’s lips, holding completely still for what seemed like an eternity. There was a light tapping against the window as someone sought to get their attention.

A muffled voice called out to them. “I did not ask you to fornicate with the kid.”

The woman tossed the blanket off of them so she could glare at Duke. “Shit, Duck-young! Learn some form of transportation that’s fucking faster than a victorian zombie casually strolling through a garden!”

Now that Adi could see her better, she appeared to be a Hispanic woman with short hair and thick bangs that ended just above her eyes. Her bangs covered up whatever he had seen glowing on her forehead earlier.

Duke gestured for them to come out of the car. “I had to make another phone call. I should note that I have no idea how long the tranquilizer is going to last, nor do I know if this is safe for me to eat.” He pointed the gun at the creature and shot him with another dart for good measure.

After the woman climbed out of the car, Adi followed and noticed that the feathered monster was slumped beside the car. Its beak was open and a long, thick tongue was hanging out the side. One eye stared up at the sky in unconscious horror while the other looked off towards the woods.

“I imagined a sasquatch would be more…” Adi frowned. “Hairy?”

“Maybe.” Duke shrugged. “I have been notified that this is a wendigo. First, they tear out the soul out to stop the body from moving, then they devour the flesh.” He brushed the feathers away from the creature’s neckline to reveal an employee identification card. “This gentleman probably thought he had gotten away from it, but then he somehow metamorphosed into one himself.”

Adi patted himself down and mumbled about how dark it was. He also felt sore and physically weakened. Maybe standing wasn’t the best option right now. “I thought I was supposed to have the tranq gun with me.” He stared at the gun Duke was holding, then pointed at it confusedly.

“Yes. For that realization, I should give you a gold star.” He held it up in the air when Adi reached for it. “You left this on the trail. I believe at some point it must have caught up to you and you attempted to fire at it.”

“That’s the Wulfert bloodline kicking in during battle. We’re very skilled hunters.” Adi puffed out his chest with pride.

“You succeeded in striking two deer, a skunk, and a tree… But not this. At some point, you dropped your gun.” He rotated it so Adi could see that his name and phone number were stamped on the handle. “We talked about this.” Duke pointed at Adi’s name. “We talked about this very thing right here, did we not?”

Adi’s pride took a shot in the gut. He sulked his shoulders and looked off to the side like a scolded child. “It wasn’t very easy to get a hold of. I would want someone to return it if it was somehow lost.”

“We’ll worry about it later. Our backup has arrived more quickly than expected.” A dark gray van pulled up and four people quickly hopped out. The two women approached them while two men unloaded a motorcycle from the back. 

Windi was quick to give orders. “Paul, Vila, bag the cadaver and place it within the vehicle.”

One of the men was older, with a long nose, balding head, and a blue lab coat. The other was younger, his hair was fluffy with splotches of blond and orange. Most notable was the fact that he had animalistic ears and a cat-like tail that swished about behind him.

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“It’s alive,” replied Duke. He waggled the gun in the air, still keeping it away from Adi as he did so. “Tranquilizer darts.”

Windi frowned. “Paul, prep a shot. Inject him when you get in the van and put him in a body bag first so he doesn’t make a mess.”

Duke briefly narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know much about DH, but he wasn’t going to argue about them killing an innocent victim. “That should conclude our business. The search party will be here at seven. My party and I will be taking our leave.”

“I don’t have a need for the human, but the demon and you have to stay,” replied Windi. “You made a deal with Pastor. Work with us or die. Don’t change your mind now.” She gestured for the woman to approach Adi. “Rachel, would you please? I have matters to discuss with the hopper.”

Rachel nodded and clasped her hands together. A faint blue light came through her sleeves and expanded across her skin until her hands were glowing.

“So… I can go?” Adi looked over at her hopefully.

He felt uncomfortable as Rachel waved her glowing hands over him. Silently waving. It was odd. The way she leaned in and smiled at him like he was a lab rat made the experience worse. She then started to wander around, waving her hands about in some strange, mystical manner.

Windi watched Paul and Vila dragged the wendigo away. “Are you sure he’s still alive?”

“I wasn’t certain if he was safe to eat, so I only had a little snack,” muttered Duke. “Though that and the amount of toxins I shot him up with may have caused him to expire. A shame though.” His tone grew sarcastic. “If only someone hadn’t ordered me to abandon my former food source. I would’ve practiced better judgement if I wasn’t so hungry.”

Windi didn’t care about his excuses. “I will need her name.”

Duke politely gestured to his female companion. “It is my pleasure to introduce Verlsa.” When he said the name, the “R” and the “L” combined to make a subtle purring sound. “You are already familiar with my emergency food source, Atticus.”

“What the hell is going on, Duck-Young,” hissed Verlsa under her breath.

Duke turned to Verlsa. “Windi is simply the type that knows exactly what we are.”

“Then why did you call her here?” Versla asked with a growl.

“Because I do not believe we should be responsible for hunting down any other wendigos that may be present,” he muttered back.

Despite Verlsa looking quite put off by the DH agent’s presence, Windi carried on in a professional manner. “It has only been two or three days since that man suffered from his change. His mother will still be in the area. We are short on time and resources. That means that I will be conscripting the two of you for this mission.”

“You’re not conscripting my ass. This isn’t some video game where you can pick up party members to do your dirty work,” spat back Versla.

The vampire tsked his tongue to calm her down. “Your plan would be to have Verlsa mingle with the search party while you and I look for mother hen?” Windi nodded. “And you do not wish to risk any of your own team for this mission?”

“These are regular personal. Mages without attack abilities and a powerless mithryn. The wendigo will cut right through them. Ideally, I will disable the creature while you finish it off by absorbing its qi. Verlsa will attempt to lead the volunteer group away from where we are hunting.”

“I’m finished,” chirped Rachel in a singsong voice.

She circled about a spot before jutting out her hands. A bluish hologram appeared before her. It resembled the ghost of a man, but large pieces had been torn out of his body. His face was too blurry to make out any distinct features, though an eerie sort of sadness radiated through the light.

He looked around at everyone staring at him. “... Hello?” His voice was distorted and staticy.

Windi brushed Duke aside so she could speak to the specter. “My name is Windi. We don’t have much time. I would like to speak with you about your situation.” The apparition gave a nod. “Please tell me what happened.”

“We were… Bill…” His voice faded in and out, Rachel furrowing her brow. She wiggled her fingers until his voice sounded much clearer. “We were doing a survey and discussing what areas we should start working on next. There was the sound of… We thought it was a barn owl behind us. I ignored it until Bill began to panic. Turned around and there was a giant shadow behind me with its arms raised up.

I turned to run, but I felt something dig into my back, then I saw my body running off without me in it… I heard a voice telling me to go catch it, but it just kept running ahead till it found someone.

It found… It found Bill. He asked me how I was, and my body… It tore him up with its teeth. I tried to stop it, but every time I tried to get close, it just turned around and bit at me… I… I think I killed and ate Bill.” The apparition hesitated. “... There was so much blood.”

“That’s fine. Thank you for your time.” Windi paused and waved towards her co-workers. “Rachel, start heading back to headquarters. I’ll ride back on my own. Sir, what was your name?”

“Steven… Steven Prescott.”

“Steven, we are going to avenge you. The Six Soul will give you mercy. You will be able to pass on to the other side. For now, I need you to guide us to where you were attacked.” The apparition nodded again. Its visage wavered and disappeared, but Windi continued to acknowledge him as though he were still there.

Adi stood there with his jaw slightly agape. “What the fu… What?”

Windi nodded at Verlsa. “Duke and I are going ahead to find the wendigo. You two will need to stay here. If the search party shows up, try to lead them to Bill’s body. That should distract them long enough for us to complete our end of the hunt. Duke will update you on our position so that we do not run into each other.”

Duke stretched out, popping and cracking as he always did. “This sort of work seems absolutely barbaric.” He then sorted out his umbrella and held it above his head.

Windi began to walk down the trail, with Duke shuffling behind her. A part of him wanted to be done with this business, but he had felt so much better after one partial meal. His joints were already looser. If he could drool, the thought of eating another wendigo would have his jaw and shirt completely soaked.

Adi shook his hands in frustration at Verlsa. “Why does everyone have to step up and take charge of the situation while ignoring me?” He was made even more upset by the fact that Duke and Windi were heading off without asking him to help.

Verlsa shrugged. “I have a conference call with a client at eight today. If I don’t make it, I’m going to be out of a lot of money. I’m only here because Duck-young said you were going to die if I didn’t show up. Would you rather I had stayed home to protect my paycheck or save your life? Should I ignore the welfare of the search party or do I go home?”

“See? That’s my problem! You’re all psychopaths who have to be right about everything! And you keep talking about some duck?!” Adi looked around. The peached sword had fallen off his belt at some point, but it was still near the edge of the parking lot. He ran over to fetch it.

“You’re being disrespectful.” Verlsa frowned as Adi gave the sword a few practice swings. “Duke is Duck-young’s English name. You should make a point to learn more about the people you work with.” Verlsa leaned against the side of her car. If Adi wasn’t so violent right now, she could take a nap while waiting for the search party to arrive.

“Really? Me? Disrespectful? Everyone lately just seems to know exactly what’s best for me. This isn’t education or freedom, it’s neglecting my own wishes.” He sat down on the ground and rested his head against his knees. “Everything is stupid.”

“Yes. Because today has been such a terrible day for you and no one seems to care or understand.” Verlsa retorted in a monotone voice. This is why she hated dealing with younger men. She walked towards him but kept her eyes on the trail ahead. “I’m going to tell you a story. It’s everything you need to know about Doctor Duck-young Kwak.”