Rosa woke up on the couch, the days light beaming in through the window. The first thing she noticed was how refreshed she felt, that was the most peaceful sleep she’d had in days. She could see why hunters got addicted to those tablets.

Rosa sat up from her makeshift bed, instantly scents flooded her nose drawing her attention to the sizzling in the kitchen. Saliva built up in her mouth, and Rosa was happy for it not to be a warning for incoming vomit. She knew a full English when she smelt it.

“You’re up. Good” Louie stated as he entered the room, “I’m cooking us breakfast. Remote’s on the table if you want to watch TV”.

Rosa quickly claimed the remote and switched on her favourite shows, cartoons again, although this time of a slightly older demographic. Some may call her childish, but Rosa didn’t care, they kept her calm.

Soon Louie brought over a tray holding a cup of tea, a full English and utensils. He placed it on the table in front of her.

“How are you feeling kid?” Louie asked softly.

“Better” Rosa answered truthfully. Although the memories were still fresh and painful, it was a lot subtler than last night. She felt better the more she accepted the reality of her life, just like her father would’ve desired. Would he be proud to see how well his lessons had worked?

“Good” Louie said happily before heading back into the kitchen.

He showed no interest in bringing up her breakdown last night which Rosa was thankful for. She continued to watch TV and eat her breakfast Her mind soon calmed down, and million questions quickly began to burn inside her.

Louie joined her in the living room taking a seat on the armchair, placing a tray on his lap. His eyes wandered over the cartoons on the TV and glistened slightly with amusement. In the corner of her eye she watched him eat his breakfast and watch the TV. She’d never see a human eat so quickly.

Once he finished he let out a sudden sigh. “I know you’ve still got questions, ask away. I’ll answer what I can” Louie said.

Rosa didn’t know where start. She eventually decided to jump into it with the one bugging her most.

“Why don’t people know about this. It’s not like they’re invisible to the human eye, how hasn’t it leaked out into the public eye?” Rosa asked.

“It does, or it has. Where do you think all the worlds’ myths and legends come from, all history’s folklore” Louie stated, “all the terrifying fairy tales and stories children are told, well most of them actually happened in some manner. It’s also the same concept with seeing movement in the corner of your eye, weird shadows and strange reflections, most of the time it’ll be nothing, but then on the odd occasion” he shrugged.

“That’s makes … surprisingly a lot of sense” Rosa admitted, “some of those stories were too farfetched for me to believe someone just made them up. If they are, that person needs to go to an asylum”.

He chuckled.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“What?” she asked.

“I had the same thought when I discovered the truth” he explained.

“Is the lock- ness monster real?”.

“I don’t know about that one?”.

“What about unicorns and dragons and stuff?”.

“Declared extinct a long time ago” Louie answered.

“Damn, I really wanted to ride one” Rosa sagged.

“Really? From the stories I’ve heard, I wouldn’t recommend it” Louie told her, “is that really all you want to ask?”.

“I’ve got distracted” Rosa admitted, her mind now blank.

“Well you can think of it on the way” he announced.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Out” Louie said and then headed back into the kitchen, providing her with absolutely zero context.

Rosa nodded. ‘Sounds about right’.

“If you want to shower and get changed, go now” Louie called out, “bathroom is the room to the right of yours”.

A shower and fresh clothes didn’t sound too bad she thought. She left the living room and headed upstairs. Thank god he’d told her where the bathroom was, last night she hadn’t realised how many rooms there were in the house. Or how big Louie’s house actually was. She quickly showered and went into her room finding her suitcase exactly where she’d left it last night before … breaking down.

Since waking, she was worried about relapsing but luckily it never came. As long as she didn’t think of the scenes back at the house she felt like she could manage. It looked like the lessons her parents drilled into her were truly paying off. Her father and mother had made sure Rosa knew how to accept and death and not allow it to hold one back, which now that she thought about it was quite a strange thing to teach a child. Only making sense now she knew the truth.

Once fully dressed she headed back downstairs and found Louie standing by the door. He was dressed in a long black coat and the same shirt and pants he’d worn when he saved her in the woods. In his hand was a long black case.

‘Is that his Hunter uniform?’ she wondered.

“You ready?” Louie asked.

Rosa nodded and they left.

On the road, the questions began coming back to her. Rosa didn’t know if they were still in Korvas but she noticed they were travelling towards the city centre.

“Last night, you said my family were hunters but what exactly are the hunters?” Rosa asked confused. She understood what the hunters did but not what they truly are.

Louie drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and furrowed his brows. “Erm the easiest way to explain it … The hunters are an ancient organisation created to fight off the horrifying creatures you’ve unfortunately came to know” he explained “They act as a barrier, protecting the public from the truth”.

“How ancient?” Rosa asked.

“God knows”, he shrugged, “the modern organisation known today around a thousand years probably. But I know for a fact that the idea of the ‘hunters’ have been going a hell of a lot longer than that. Whether they were called hunters or not I don’t know but, there have always been hunters fighting”.

She nodded. “So you your technically like a secret service”.

He winced, “erm”.

“You should get tainted windows” she suggested looking out the car.

“Probably not. Hunters tend to want to blend in and be discrete”.

“Then why do you wear those clothes?”.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Louie questioned.

“Nothing” Rosa said quickly.

His eye tightened as he stared at her. “Never caused me any issues” he grumbled.

“Forget I said anything. Where are we going?” Rosa asked, observing as they travelled towards the docks and passing Wavertree.

“You’ll see” Louie said.

He then pulled off the main road into a long, quiet side road. They continued to make a few more turns travelling into an even more isolated area. They pulled into an old and vegetation covered car park holding only a few vehicles. It was as if had avoided human influence for many years.

She looked forward. Suddenly there was a humongous building. Her eyes went wide, Rosa was certain that hadn’t been there before, surely you would be able to see something so massive from miles away. She analysed the structure it was as if they’d came across an ancient cathedral lost to the city. Forged from old stone, it possessed ancient gothic architecture of towering spires, gargoyles and opaque windows.

“Welcome to Liverpool’s newly established Hunter HQ” Louie announced as they parked up.