I was floored, struggling to process what was happening. Omo was dead, a bullet through his forehead. The windshield was shattered, broken glass all around. Bridget was screaming in the backseat. And this deranged girl with blue pigtails had appeared out of nowhere, threatening us with a branded pistol in her grip, and a sniper rifle strapped on her back.

My ears were still ringing from the gunshot. Omo was slumped over the steering wheel, blood oozing from the bullet hole in his skull. The sight of him infuriated me as I moved myself to attack the girl, but she was agile, pointing that pink pistol’s barrel on my forehead just as I budged an inch.

“See now, I wasn’t askin’!” she cackled. “Since ya don’t know how to follow the rules, it’s best I get rid of you. You just smell like trouble. Night, night, stud muffin!”

Bridget gave a pitched scream when this mystery girl pulled the trigger. Even though I knew I had physical invulnerability, I still held my breath and froze. When the bullet ricocheted off my forehead, the girl’s eyes went wide. “What the hell?” she exclaimed. I had a moment of realization myself, but I didn’t linger on it. I seized the opportunity and lunged forward, knocking the pistol from her hand. She was fast, because as soon as I disarmed her, she leaped in the air and disappeared.

“Shit,” I grunted, grabbing onto the dashboard and poking my head out of the huge gap where the windshield used to be. “Where is she?!”

“Nero!” Bridget cried, her eyes glued on the tractor trailer we were about to collide into. I grabbed the swerving steering wheel and gently pushed Omo’s body back against the seat, my hands trying to maneuver the best it could at an awkward position.

More awkward than that, I had no idea what the hell I was doing….

Carhorns blared and honked as I dipped in and out of lanes, my navigation skills atrocious. I could hear the harsh screeching of the tires as I tried to keep the car straight, until Reina leaped in between the two front seats and bawled, “Don’t you know how to drive?!”

“You’re talking to someone who takes the bus for a living!” I retorted.

“You work as a mechanic, do you not?!”

“Doesn’t replace having a driver’s license! Or knowing how to drive sideways with no access to the brakes!”

“Toss the body!” Reina shouted, the hairs on my neck rising.

I looked back at her like she had three heads. “Toss the what?!”

“You heard what I said. Rest in peace, Omo, but I have no doubt that he would understand that we’d love nothing more than to see another day after this crazy car chase! Now toss him!”

“No way!” I retorted. “Reina, Bridget, pop the seat back and drag him by the shoulders.”

“What?! I’m not touching a corpse!”

“I’m not about to fling a victim out of the car when we have options!” I barked back at her.

“I will do it,” Bridget said as tears streamed down her face. “Nero’s right. He deserves better than to be discarded like that. It’s disrespectful….” Her voice shook. “Omo was brave, and was always a nice man to me. If he could safely transport me around Utoro for over 10 years, then I can bring him to his wife in one piece.” Bridget reached over with trembling hands and fumbled to find the seat lever. As the backrest collapsed backward, Omo’s lifeless body slumped down.

“Grab his shoulders!” I shouted over my shoulder, one hand white-knuckling the steering wheel while the other tried to help them bring Omo to the backseat.

Reina hesitated, her fingers hovering just above Omo’s shirt. They both tugged at Omo, and luckily, the man wasn’t very heavy to begin with. They were pulling him back gradually, until a thud jerked me against his knees, something hitting us from the right side of the car.

Spurred by urgency, Bridget steeled herself and took hold of Omo's shoulders. She dragged him all the way back, allowing me to take the driver’s seat. When I looked over to my right, I saw the same black car with tinted windows speeding up. It was gliding toward us for another slam, and we were dangerously close to the side guard.

The black car slammed into us again, jolting the whole vehicle violently. I struggled to keep control of the wheel as we swerved back and forth, focusing on keeping the girls alive. Another impact—this piece of shit was relentless! He sent us careening toward the guardrail. I yanked the wheel hard to the right, barely avoiding a collision. The tires screeched in protest as I floored the accelerator, pushing the car to its limits.

“They’re still coming!” Reina shouted. I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw the black car gaining more speed. “Crap, they don’t know when to quit!”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The black car was neck and neck with us now, and then finally, the jackass behind the wheel pulled his window down.

He was a tall and tan brute looking fucker with a big smile, a sleeve of tats, stupid black shades, and a pathetic mini mustache.

“Give us the girl and end it already!” his deep voice demanded. “The man in the big seat isn’t about to brush us off! He owes us big money! If he wants to run away, we’re gonna give him something to sit around for!”

“You’re not touching a hair on her head!” I growled.

“Come on, you wannabe heroes got nothing to do with this! Meddling in people’s affairs—take the easy route and back off. Unless you want us to make that decision for you…” Just as he said that, I heard a loud thud from the roof of the car, my eyes turning up to see it dented from the outside. Something heavy had crashed into it, and then like a jack-in-the-box, a long blade pierced the metal clean through.

On cue, Bridget hollered, the blade inches away from her. It stretched between her and Reina, the girl backing into her seat and trying to maneuver around Omo’s dead body to avoid decapitation.

“Hmm, I rarely miss,” I heard a voice say from above us, and then when my eyes met the skinhead again, he had his pointer finger zeroed in on me before he whispered,

“Bang.”

Immediately, I hit the brakes, causing everyone in the back to jerk forward. I nearly slammed my face into the steering wheel, but I made a hard break just in time to miss the shotgun blast from that guy’s finger. I saw a horizontal beam of green light that avoided us and cut through a clutter of trees off the side of the road. It didn’t look as cool as Urameshi’s, but it was just as deadly. The car kept going for a couple of seconds before the sound of its brakes screamed as its tires locked up.

The hard break also caused the skinny tall chick who was on the roof of the car to dismount it and leap in front of it. She was wearing a black cat suit and had long black hair in a braided ponytail. She was also wearing a red and white Kabuki mask over her face.

I stared at her and her long sword as the girls collected themselves. The temptation to rev this car and run over her seeped through me, as my desire for revenge boiled my blood. But the mission was more important than my vendetta right now.

“Reina, take Bridget to the rendezvous point,” I whispered to her.

Reina choked. “What?! I can’t do that!”

“You have to.”

“I’m in the same predicament you’re in, Nero. I cannot drive either!”

“I can’t either,” Bridget cried.

“Well, you girls can take it up between yourselves,” I said as I exited the car through the busted door. “I’m going to run interference as best as I can so you can escape, starting with her.”

“But, Nero, you can’t—” Reina said, before she stopped short. Something overcame her and she straightened out right away, taking my spot behind the steering wheel with a serious expression on her face. “Do what you must. I will bring Bridget to safety.”

I turned back and gave her a smile. “Good luck.”

Once I stepped out of the car, Reina backed up and peeled off. And then, from the corner of my eye, I noticed Naomi on her motorcycle chasing her.

Good, she had some insurance. I could feel better about letting her head off with Bridget. The both of them should be able to handle business without me.

“How admirable,” she sang, her voice smooth like silk. “To forfeit your life for your friend. But the blonde girl, you have no relation or connection to her, I presume.”

I smirked. “You’d be right to presume that.”

“I have never understood you hunters. What you stand for is utter complete bullshit. Risking your lives out there for people you don’t even know.”

“It’s rewarding, but I doubt someone like you could understand that. You’d rather feed on humans and live for your own gluttony and greed.”

She chuckled. “You think I’m a shadow walker? No, lackey. I’m more sophisticated than that.”

Wait a minute, was she gifted?

Well, that would explain a few things. She and her team were rogues….

“Don’t bunch us up with those mindless monsters. We live for ourselves and run by our own rules, but we do not feed on the living.”

I snorted. “Right, instead you terrorize the living and kill the innocent. At least you have one thing in common with those demons.”

“That girl and her father aren’t as innocent as you think.”

“Tell me more about it from inside a prison cell,” I taunted, before I turned around and jumped off a short cliff and into the thick forest off the side of the road.

I landed in a crouch on the slippery grassy terrain before sliding a ways down. When I noticed a rough clutter of rocks, I changed gears, fast walking the rest of my way into an unkempt neck of the woods. With my luck, the mystery assassin girl followed my lead. I wanted her off of the road and away from civilians, limiting casualties as best I could. But when I went down, I didn’t see her.

“Crap, did she really stay behind?” I mumbled to myself, itching to head back the way I came. Except she promptly made herself known when she sliced the air in front of me, forcing me to jerk back at the sound of a whooshing noise.

I whipped around to space us out, but instead, I saw the masked girl standing behind me, twirling a short dagger in her hand casually. Her fluidness with her blades caught my attention as I grabbed the long one edging for the back of my neck, and then grabbed the dagger.

Her eyes opened up at how brave I was to snatch them, the girl in black sliding them out of my grip before she tried again. This time she went for my chest, and I backed away with every wind breaking slice she tossed at me.

Until my chest caught one, the blade slicing the t-shirt under my hoodie.

Finally, she leaped back, probably realizing that I wasn’t taking much damage with her blades.

“Not bad, minion. Invulnerability. How lucky some of us are….”

“I hear a hint of jealousy. I’m curious, what’s your gift?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Must be something light for you to stick with basic weapons.”

“I promise you, my skills behind these blades aren’t basic….”

I grinned. “You’re right. You’re pretty quick on your feet. Got a strong arm, too.”

“It’s a shame you’ll be losing yours in a second,” she threatened, but instead of striking, she stood there and stared at me, stand-off style.

“Why the cowboy stare down? I hope you’re not stalling for something?”

“Nothing in life is easy, so I’ll complicate things and allow you to believe that.”

“Why are you after that girl and her father?” I asked, doing a bit of stalling myself as I tried to gauge her abilities. “What do you want with them?”

“Retribution….”