Chapter 2 : Misdirections

‘How’s the boy doing, Tasha?’ asks an old man sitting on the armchair closest to the fan. The weather is so hot nowadays that nobody ever tries to wear a coat.

The one called Tasha, whose real name is Natasha, barely even looks up from her laptop as she speaks. ‘Boy? Granddad, you’re letting your memory get ahead of you again. He’s no longer a boy now. And yes, he’s fine.’

 Granddad shivers as the fan oscillates towards him again. At the age of 75, he looks extremely frail and weak, yet he holds a position that strikes fear even to many Class S Demons.

Granddad’s the Prima Demon Bane.

Or in other words, the leader of the Demon Hunters.

He rose up to this position not without little bloodshed. There are some who as far as to claim that he had left a bloody trail behind the pages of Demon Hunters’ history, and that should one ever tries to trace his trail, one would eventually meet Death himself.

And yet the person in question shivers at the sight of an electric fan.

It came again, and he could not take it anymore. ‘Tasha! Can you shut down this infernal thing?!’

Tasha rolls her eyes again, while clacking away on her laptop. ‘Give me a minute, Granddad. I’m just churning out a report…’

A second later, it was as if a bomb went off in the living room. Tasha leaps out of her seat, her dual pistols at the ready, with her arms completely emblazoned with Seals. She looks about and senses for any imminent danger, but feels none coming. The smoke and debris clears up, and she groans at what she sees.

The fan, or what is left of the fan, lies completely smashed on the floor while Granddad continues to sit on his favourite armchair, completely unfazed by what had just happened.

If anything, he looks contented.

Tasha puts her hand to her head, as though a storm was just brewing right in her skull. ‘Granddad..’ She sighs as she returns back to her table. ‘That’s the 3rd electric fan we bought for you that you broke this month. No more, I say, no more!’

Granddad looks a little hurt at this comment. ‘But,’ he whimpers like a kid being punished for doing nothing wrong, ‘I didn’t even want this… This abomina-‘ Before he could finish though, Tasha cuts in.

‘Really, Granddad? Ah, I give up. It’s frustrating talking to you when your memory’s not even worth a cent.’ 

Granddad looks out of the window, out to the main road where most humans are going off to work. He smiles as another memory comes back to him. ‘When we took him in, he was just a boy. And he was crying non-stop for days that I had to keep him quiet with a Seal of Silence. After that, he was always watching and learning…’

[p=center]Seal of Silence

Class C Enhancement Seal

Effects: When placed on any body part, the movement of that body part will not emit any sound that can be picked up by sonar detectors. When placed on weapons, it renders the weapon completely muted. 

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Tasha smiles too, as that particular recollection comes back to her. She sees it now too: a boy, not more than a metre tall, showed up at the Hunter House about 10 years ago, holding hands with one of the Demon Hunters who found him wandering around the ruins of the old Rex cinema. He was so scared of anything and everything that spoke to him that Granddad had to forbid anyone who tried to communicate with him.

And now, fully-grown up and extremely able on his own, Sein is taking up contracts and slaughtering Demons, usually all by himself most of the time.

‘Tasha!’ She gives a start as Granddad’s voice broke all her trains of thoughts. She swirls around on her roller-chair and faces Granddad, who was standing up and leaning on his crutch. ‘Yes, Granddad?’ She asks, not without curiosity.

‘This must be something important. He never gets up to make a point unles-‘

‘Is breakfast ready?’ Granddad asks, rubbing his stomach.

Tasha groans again and turns back to her laptop.

________________________________________________________________________

‘You’re one of the most accomplished Hunters around, and you’re telling me you have no money to pay for a Big Mac? Seriously?’ A male teenager with combed-back, jet black hair says incredulously to Sein, who just continues to munch on his burger. 

‘Well… It’s not… My… Fault… That Ian’s… Not giving me… My dues… From all the bounties… I’ve completed.’ Replies Sein as he talks in between bites from his food. He sucks noisily on the straw from his Coke and hits his cup back on the table, as if to make a point.

The teenager’s eyes grew wide at the mention of Ian’s name. ‘You’re working for Ian now? Wow, you really must be desperate for some work if you have to sink that low…’ 

‘Don’t listen to Jackson’s rubbish, Sein. Ian’s still a decent contract dealer, even if he tends to miss his payment dates. Move over, idiot, so that I can have a seat.’ This time, the voice was a girl’s. A feisty one at that. She had a head of flaming red hair that matches with Sein’s own scarlet eyes and she had so many ear piercings done that if anyone were to bring a magnet close to her ear, the result would have looked like a mini-gun had blown her ear off.

The one called Jackson shifts down the cushion seat, giving room for the girl to sit down. There was some sort of a cushion he left behind as he moved away though, and the girl had the misfortune not to notice it and sat down right on it.

A most ridiculous fart noise echoes throughout the entire Macdonald’s outlet, and a stony silence ensues as people look about for the source of the noise. Most are actually laughing.

The girl turns her livid eyes on Jackson as she seethes. ‘You dare,’ whispers the girl in white anger as her arms begin to glow with Seals, ‘use that prank on me in public?!’

But before she can do anything, Sein had his hands on her shoulder. ‘Not now, Valerie,’ says Sein as he looks about, hoping no one had noticed her Seals, ‘while we’re in public.’ The girl unwillingly releases her Seals and turns back to her food. ‘And there’s Vanguard about too.’ 

At this, both Jackson and Valerie looks up at Sein and follows his gaze to a table not far away. 

A group of men had just filled up a table of four to Sein’s two o’clock. They are all wearing business suits, which is sort of the norm for most Vanguard officers nowadays. Out of the four of them, only one is powerfully built. The rest are looking no less intimidating as well; they have looks that tells people to stay away from them.

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Fortunately, they had not seen Valerie’s Seals nor heard the fart noise before they had entered the Macdonald’s.

The three Demon Hunters returned back to their meals, and left the place as soon as they were done.

‘Whew! Finally, we’re out of that place!’ Whistles Jackson as he throws away the Coke he bought from the Macdonald’s.

‘Yeah. I hate to be breathing the same air as those Vanguards. Somehow, they always stink up the place.’ As if to emphasise her point, she turns up her nose in disgust in the direction towards where they came out from.

Sein just shrugs and turns to open his guitar case, only to realize that he had forgotten about it, and had left it back at the Macdonald’s.

Panic courses in his veins as he whirls around suddenly to run back towards the restaurant.

‘Wha-‘ Says Jackson and Valerie at the same time, surprised by the sudden outburst from Sein.

But Sein had stopped running already, and is standing still right in front of the entrance of the restaurant, where someone is blocking him apparently.

Blocking Sein with his own guitar case.

‘Forgot something, Demon Hunter?’ Says the Vanguard officer with a smirk, with a blue suit and yellow tie that matches his own blonde hair.  

Sein only scowls, but stands his ground. 

‘You should know something; you can’t really hide your presence nowadays from us when you’re carrying seemingly normal and yet inconspicuous items at the same time like these around.’ The officer chuckles as he throws the guitar case back to Sein, who deftly catches it without as much as a thanks.

‘You’re the unfriendly sort, huh? Well, see you around, if you’re still alive and not going around playing the hero, that is.’ Laughs the officer even more as he heads back into the restaurant. 

Sein can only grit his teeth as he slings the guitar case back over his shoulder while walking back towards his two friends, who are scowling as much as Sein.

‘One day,’ says Sein, ‘when they need our help killing off Demons, I am so not going to be there. The Demons could be summoning Bahamut for all I care.’

‘You should do something about your eyes. I think that’s what’s catching everybody’s attention.’ Giggles Valerie as she quips about Sein’s scarlet pupils. 

Sein pulls an annoyed face before saying, ‘come on, let’s head back. I think Natasha’s waiting for us.’

The drive back to Sein’s home was about 15 minutes. The Chua House was located in the Serangoon district, and it was basically a multi-storey apartment building with multiple flats on each level. The entire House was surrounded by white-washed concrete walls and they were all fortified by Runes. Runes were a variation of Seals, and though they’re generally weaker, Runes are always active. And they can be easily replaced.

The outside of the Chua House is not much to look at, but the interior of the house is too splendid to be labelled just ‘grand’. Most of the floors were made up of marble tiles, and they were so well-polished that the floors squeak sometimes when people slide on them.

At every lift landing, there is a portrait of each Prima Demon Bane of every single generation since the First Prima himself, spanning up to 8 floors in total. Granddad’s the 9th one in succession, so when someone takes over him, his own portrait will probably be added alongside the 8th’s one.

The second floor was where the common living room was, and it was right next to the dining room. It was where Natasha usually holds her meetings as Chairwoman of the Chua House. And all who are part of the Chua House has to attend whenever she calls for one.

‘Everyone,’ she begins as Sein, Jackson and Valerie enters the room, ‘so glad that you can make it today. I know it’s a weekday, and some of you are actually skipping work to be here, so I would appreciate if the rest of you can be more punctual the next time.’ Natasha says the last part a little more sharply. Sein merely raises his eyebrows while the other two looks a little more embarrassed. They skulk around the sofas and choose seats as far away as Natasha as possible.

The entire Chua House is here.  

Natasha pretends not to notice Sein’s reaction and continues, ‘now this is something important. A Class S Demon has been spotted near the Yishun district. You know what this means.’

‘Pardon my intrusion, Natasha, but shouldn’t this be a problem for the Li House instead of us? Yishun is their turf anyway.’ Says Charlie, from Natasha’s right. He is a Class B Demon Hunter who specializes in fist-fighting.

Natasha frowns a little before replying, ‘normally I would not have suggested confronting a threat in somebody else’s turf, but this is a direct request from the Li House actually. Half of their own Demon Hunters are in Egypt at the moment.’ 

‘Egypt?’ Pipes up Adelyn, a Class D Demon Hunter who fights with a trident. 

‘No idea what they’re doing there, but the Li House is short-handed at the moment. If this Demon decides to run rampant in Yishun, they won’t be able to stop them. Even the Vanguard movement is slow in that district. Officer Ong takes care of that district, and you should know how much of an incompetent fool he is.’

Everyone in the room agrees; they are all thinking the same thing when the officer in question had previously led his entire team of investigators to their deaths against a Demon whom he thought was only a Class A species, but was actually a Demon Overlord.

‘So for this,’ she continues after drinking some water, ‘who’s interested? I’m opening this only to Class B Demon Hunters and above. I myself am going. Whoever else is interested, let me know after this.’ And with that, the meeting came to a close. 

Sein gets up from his chair and turns towards the elevator, only to find Natasha signaling to him to come over. Heaving a sigh, he walks over to Natasha, expecting a reprimanding for holding up everyone’s time.

But it turns out to be something completely unexpected.

‘I think you’ll want to go for this mission, Sein.’ Natasha begins.

‘Not really, I’ve never really seen eye-to-eye with those of the Li House.’ Sein replies, not really looking at Natasha, but at his phone instead.

‘Put that away, Sein. Listen, this Demon… Well, I’ve heard he might have been connected to your parents’ deaths.’ Said Natasha seriously.

Sein felt alive for the moment; his ears literally turned up at this.

‘I’m listening.’ He says, without even batting an eyelid.