There was a heavy silence that hung in the air. It was thick and uninviting. Only rarely was it interrupted by the tick of an insect splashing against the windshield. Duke sat on the passenger. His lap held a slender object that was wrapped in cloth. He kept his eyes on the road ahead. Adi mostly kept his eyes on the road, but he would give Duke a concerned glance every once in awhile.

Duke hadn’t wanted to mention it to Adi, but the both of them were in a bit of a pickle. This venture needed to succeed in order for the both of them to survive. The little bits of qi that he stole from the other vampires was all that was keeping his mind intact, and Pastor had taken away that food source. He could already feel his mind-numbing away and he feared for what would happen to him if he did lose control.

“Why are you wearing my vest?”

Adi’s question made Duke snap out of his melancholy. The vampire had taken the idea of making himself at home a little too seriously, much to Adi’s annoyance. He even complained about how Adi was a few inches shorter than himself and thus didn’t have much that he could borrow for clothing.

Duke unbuttoned the suit vest and revealed the stain on his silk shirt. “Someone threw a vial of blasphemy at me the other day. They are going to have to put up with me borrowing articles of clothing until they bother to pay for dry cleaning.” Adi went to turn on the radio, but Duke tsked his tongue. “We should go over the plan again.”

Adi frowned. “You use your vampire senses or whatever to try to track down the guys that went missing. If they turn up dead, we go looking for whoever the baddie is. You do the tracking, I hold the tranq gun.”

The vampire nodded, “Well done. It is nice to see some intelligence being applied toward self-preservation. It doesn’t take a lot to avoid dying if you’re careful about it. Look both ways when crossing the street, be careful around trains, and do not barge into vampire dens while throwing random bits and bobbles everywhere. Simple as that.”

“I just think that I should’ve had a chance to negotiate our terms or something before you barged in and took control of my life.” Adi’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “This whole thing is too one-sided.”

“The scenario where I outright kill you if you do not listen to what I say is not ideal for establishing a foundation of trust, I do understand that much.” Duke ignored Adi’s glare. “Very well. What I offer in exchange is information. I will teach you everything I know about demons, mithryn, and mages. I will do everything within my power, as long as my body holds up, to protect you while you travel down this path.”

“That seems a little much…” A large moth splattered against the windshield, leaving a large green splotch. This caused a momentary lapse in Adi’s train of thought. “Wait, there are wizards too? Like, Hogwarts or are we talking Gandalf?”

“What I ask in return is that you have complete faith in me.” Duke skipped over Adi’s question. “You do what I say and well provide anything I may need. No matter how dirty your hands get, or how tarnished your heart and soul becomes, I will be your shield of knowledge. You are my sword of literal stabbing. You obey me so that I may feed. I protect you so that you may live.”

“S-sure.” Adi bit onto the corner of his lip as he thought. “I’d still prefer it if I didn’t have to worry about being killed at any moment just because you missed a meal.”

Duke patted the object on his lap. “That was an intimidation trick to get my foot in the door. Now that we understand each other a little better, and despite you being my emergency food source, I am more than willing to tell you more about myself.” He passed the fabric covered item over to Adi. “Put it down somewhere safe where it will never touch me. You may examine it when you are not driving.”

“You could at least tell me what it is.” Adi carelessly tossed it in the back seat, making the vampire wince.

“A short sword made of the wood of the peach tree. It doesn’t have to pierce my heart, and it is dull to the touch, but it will cut through me as though it were the sharpest of blades. All vampires have weaknesses that are easily found in nature.

Some cannot cross moving water, while others burn in sunlight. There is a reason why stakes should be made from midnight oak. Find the classification of vampire you are facing, and you will never falter in battle.

I would be classified as a jiangshi. Since I am Korean, I would technically be a gangshi, but they are all slight variants of the same curse. Unlike the two or three strains from Europe, the east is host to dozens of man-eaters and bloodsuckers. Jiangshi do not travel well, but they are one of the more common strains. I was turned three months ago during a trip to South Korea.

A dear friend of mine and I were on a shuttle heading to the temple when a landslide forced us off of the mountain road. I lost consciousness, and awoke as this monstrosity.” Duke paused for a moment, if only to stare at the road ahead for a time. “A jiangshi’s mind rapidly deteriorates if they stray too far from their homeland.

I was fortunate enough to return to Washington before I suffered serious damage. Another contact of mine led me to Bernie. Now my care lies with you. There is no reason why I choose to continue to exist, but I do not believe that it is my time yet.”

Adi glanced between the vampire and the road again. “Didn’t you tell me that you were some sort of horrific ancient monster or something?” Though it shouldn’t have surprised Adi that Duke lied. He seemed to enjoy making Adi look like a fool.

“I only give you the information that I believe you need. There is no point in flooding your head with everything at once. I doubt that it would stick.” Duke frowned as Adi muttered some curses under his breath. “And the Wulfert Clan, or whatever you have named yourselves. What started it? The need for honor? Justice?”

“After everything I’ve learned recently, I think it’s probably stupidity. The stupidity of carrying on a tradition that should’ve died years ago. We choose one man from each generation to be trained by the previous hunter.

As long as they can prove they are actively hunting, they have access to the family fortune. It’s a tithe that the rest of the family funnels money into. Some people do it for the money, some people do it for honor, I thought I’d try it out in order to give me a sense of purpose.

My uncle was the previous hunter. He had two sons. Robbie and Lars, who were both being trained for the position. Lars was bitten by a vampire during a raid, and my uncle had to put him down. After Lars died, Robbie closed out his bank accounts and vanished.

I was going to start training under Uncle Wenzel, but he was eaten by werewolves a month ago. I moved out of Seattle in order to avoid being next. There were texts that were left behind in my grandfather’s house. Most of my training came from those, and I wanted to get a few kills under my belt before I tried to avenge my uncle.

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I found that nest of yours by looking up satellite maps. Bought the security footage from the building next door, and that confirmed my suspicions. You seemed like vampires so I went in to do my job, and now I’m stuck with some asshole who thinks he’s helping by threatening to kill me all the time.”

“Werewolves?” Duke couldn’t fathom it. “Are you sure a lycanthrope did that?”

“Most of my uncle’s research was destroyed or torn up. According to what was left, the monsters live all over the north end of Seattle. They even have a yearly convention there. All I know about it was that he looked like he was torn up by some animal, and I’m not stupid enough to go looking into it until I know I’m strong enough.”

“I see... I’m afraid I do not have much more to comment on.” Duke flicked the radio on and fiddled with it until he found NPR. “I thought an hour drive would take longer, but this is certainly taking a while.”

“That it is,” muttered Adi. “... Wait, are you going to be okay traveling this far from Tacoma?”

“As long as I do not end up on the peninsula or the Rockies, I should be fine going a hundred miles north or south of the city,” muttered Duke reassuringly, despite the fact that he wasn’t certain himself.

The rest of the drive was done in silence. All they had on at this time of night were personal essays that were read by professional actors. A man hired to sit with corpses before they received funeral rights, or why Pocatello, Idaho had the worst flag in America.

They parked the car where the search party was scheduled to meet in the morning. If they took too long, they could easily pretend to be a part of the next morning’s search party. Duke was first to exit the vehicle. He took while to stretch his limbs, which cracked and snapped with every minor movement.

“You could help me unload.” Adi strapped on his backpack.

“I fear I must concentrate on tracking. Carrying anything would serve as a distraction,” he said while eyed what Adi was doing. “Remember to travel light. We may have to cover several miles today. Did you remember to pack the lunch I made and some water?” Duke began to rotate his shoulders in order to loosen his back.

“Yes, I packed everything you asked me to, mother.” Adi unwrapped the wooden sword. The scabbard had an ornate carving of a dragon enveloped within mist, and the blade was thin and fragile looking. It felt like he was getting ripped off. “Would you hurry up and start tracking already?”

Duke retrieved a map and a penlight. “Unfortunately, I am not a bloodhound. I can track humans easily by the smell of their qi, but I would have to stumble upon their trail first. I have already cross referenced this map with satellite images and drawn in the trails they use for work machinery. I would like to start with those.” The map was rudely thrust into Adi’s hands so that Duke could open his umbrella.

“I didn’t think we would be hiking.” Adi pondered how long it would take for Duke to reach Tacoma if he took off in the car right here and now.

“Apologies.” Duke held the umbrella above his head. “I had assumed that mentioning the fact that we could possibly not find anything would have been enough information for you to deduce what we would be doing. There was some dismissal on my part to consider your inability to think ahead when it came to such important matters.”

Adi made certain that the peach wood sword was attached to his hip. “I really, really hate you.”

“I do not care. Friendship was never a concern of mine when I set out to make you my partner.” Duke began to walk ahead without caring if Adi followed or not.

Adi grumbled and begrudgingly tagged along. Another two hours passed in silence as they followed the tread marks of heavy machines. Animals seemed to avoid the area, even the nocturnal ones. The occasional breeze was the only thing that kept them company.

Duke had borrowed Adi’s phone to use as a compass and GPS tracker. Adi debated if it was worth it to kill Duke while the vampire had his guard down. It seemed proper. He had even bothered to name his new sword Mitzi, mostly because he was bored. But that meant that trouble might appear while Adi was defenseless, so he chose to stifle his bloodlust by chewing on the radish salad sandwich that Duke had made him.

Once in awhile Duke would pause and look around. He would take a few heavy sniffs or stand there with his mouth open, air moving slowly across his tongue as he tasted the hints of qi in the air. Then he would turn to Adi and state it was simply an animal. He had explained to him that tracking was difficult. Jiangshi didn’t have the luxury of moving at fast speeds, having to rely on their senses and pure stubbornness in order to find their prey.

Everyone sheds a little qi here and there. It builds up in any place they’ve stayed in for a while and leaves a heavier trail if the target was injured. Humans had a more fatty scent than animals and enticed his hunger more. Animals didn’t do much to keep his interests, though there was a larger animal whose scent was beginning to become stronger and stronger.

“Huh…” Duke pointed the penlight at one of the trees. Glistening entrails were hanging from the branches in a decorative manner. Only some of the internal organs were present. The rest of whatever they had belonged to had gone missing.

“What… The fuck.” Adi took a step back. Should he be terrified? Duke wouldn’t have come out here without some sort of plan. 

“Atticus.” Duke turned off the light. “Something is here with us. It is using the scent of those organs to cover up its trail.”

“Please tell me that it’s some sort of psycho and not some crazy monster that we’re not prepared to take on.”

“Shh.” Duke placed his hand on the back of Adi’s neck and spoke in the quietest possible whisper. “No questions. Listen and obey. Turn around. Follow the road. Get back to the car. Enter the back seat. Hide yourself well. Do not come out. Leave the car unlocked so that I can help you when I get there.”

“It’s just a bigfoot, right?” Adi suddenly felt a headache coming on, like he was extremely dehydrated. “And if we can’t, what if it can open doors too? Wouldn’t that make me defenseless?”

“I haven’t a clue to what it is, but you need to run. Run as fast as you’re able to. Get in the car. Hide the backseat. Hide. Please, Atticus.” Duke’s composure was faltering. That was enough to let Adi know that this was serious. A nod was given before he ran as fast as he could back to the car.

Adi found it hard to move, which was surprising. A hike shouldn’t have been enough to wear him out, but it felt like he had been hit by a wall of nausea. He began to stumble about. Vomit was threatening to bulge out of his throat with every passing minute.

The world was spinning, and for some strange reason, he was getting rather hungry. Almost as though he were halfway through a marathon. Then he heard the unholy hunting cry of something behind him, something inhuman. It urged him to keep going until everything in his mind went completely black.

Duke had also heard the cry but didn’t waver from his post. He turned towards the hunched over figure creeping slowly down the road. It twitched and clicked with every step forward, much like a bird. The moonlight glanced off the creature, illuminating the golden eyes of the beast. One eye failed to match the other’s orientation as it attempted to focus.

As it came closer Duke could see that its arms were long and thin, knuckles dragged across the ground with long talons hanging on the tips of its fingers. Its legs were like that of a satyr, and its staggering gait made it seem like it was unused to them. Soon, its focus fell upon Duke and it took on a crazed expression. Its wide beak opened slightly, giving it a resemblance to the potoo bird.

The plumage it had resembled the bark of a tree, and the overwhelming scent of blood added to its camouflage. It circled around him, clicking its beak between brief shrieks, yet it also kept its distance. Duke smiled to himself. Good. It appeared to have basic animal instincts. Nothing like a lion to send an alleycat running.

“He went that way.” Duke pointed down the road.

The bird hesitated. It looked between the trail and Duke suspiciously, then barreled after Adi upon all fours.

Duke gave it a two fingered salute as it disappeared down the trail. “Happy hunting.”