4

'Hunter!' I cry out breathlessly in shock. 'Oh my god!' yanking my phone from my pocket I punch in Rinny's number, fear gripping my heart in a way it has not done for almost five hundred years and breathlessly cradle it to my face, the blood draining and leaving me feeling cold inside. I’m not one to fear anything in this world, but this isn’t just some random man being scarred for life.

'Hey up, what's wrong? Two calls in one day must be a record!' Rinny's cheerful tone suggests she has carried out her own moon ritual and is back in the sunny mood of a demon who has once again caged her darkness.  I don’t do small talk and cut right to the chase.

'I had a vision and then a talisman was left on my alter.' My voice is trembling, my hands shaking, as I turn over the tiny silver charm in my hand scrutinising it over and over. So not me in this moment, where my emotions are getting the better of me. I’m shaken and worried, two things I forgot I could even experience.

'Whoa, busy night...You sound freaked though, so tell me, really. What's wrong Leyanne? You’re weirding me out right now. What did you see that has you sounding like this?' Rinny's happiness drops, and concern floods her normally upbeat voice. She knows me better than anyone, that if I’m afraid, then it means something is really wrong.

'A hunter! .... I saw one, he was standing facing away from me and this, this charm, it's a sun symbol like the ones they have emblazoned on their skin when they awaken their inner powers.' I take a deep breath, trying to calm my emotions and sound normal. My mind wild with scenarios and memories and outright fear. I have lived long enough to remember clearly the last of their kind and had a hand in wiping out their existence for the good of all immortals.

'That's not possible, Leyanne! The hunters that survived the cleanse were all made dormant, they have no memories of what they are and even still. Most of them are dead! You and the council made sure of it. They can’t reproduce.' Rinny sounds unsure, maybe even afraid like she should be. The weight of this heavy on both of our minds. There is a moment of pause, a silence that sinks down with sparking atmosphere between us before I break the tension once more.

'If there is even one..... The devastation he could cause! All he needs are his powers unleashed. He has only one purpose and that is to wipe out all immortals and cleanse the earth in the way we subdued them. One could produce more. That's why the higher powers disabled them.' My voice cracks, and I swallow hard. My throat dry and my brain firing at a thousand miles an hour.

'Good or bad, he won't see a difference between us. He will destroy dark and light equally. This is bad. Why are you scared, Leyanne? You're super immortal. Nothing can kill you, it's the rest of us who should run screaming to the shadows and fear this rising assassin.' Rinny tries to make light of it, but her joke doesn’t match the fear in her tone.

'A hunter can!' I close my eyes, breathing slowly to centre myself. For the first time in so long, knowing something exists that can end my life, and actually wants to, it’s surreal. 'Hence my part in helping the council remove the threat. It was my magic combined with all present which silenced them and ended their reign of terror over us.' My chest feels like it’s caving in, unfamiliar with these kinds of feelings and I’m overwhelmed.

Why would the gods allow a hunter back into our world and why would they let my see the intention?  It’s almost like a warning.

One of my gods, Khonsu, ruler of the moon is where I draw the majority of my power and as strong as I am, I have only one major flaw. My only weakness is that of the ones who draw the power from the elements, of all the immortals, there is only one kind who draw from the sun, and they are my Achilles heel. The sun trumps the moon in all ways.

The hunters!

I know because I almost perished at their hands in my youth. As a ten year old child with my own growing power, I barley got out alive when they came to strip our lands of my kind.

Once a strong race of Aztec warriors, whose only purpose was to wipe out those who defied nature's laws by being immortal. Humans were gifted a power greater than any of ours, and one purpose – to kill. Almost like the sun god despised those who dared to create species greater than his mortal playthings. The gods are a fickle breed who give and take life like playing a game of chess. Always at war with one another, a game of one up, and using this planet as a board game full of pawns.

The Aztec's killed thousands in their wake, wiping out beings from the earth until the higher powers intervened. Annoyed by the heavy hand dealt our way. A strong leader from each species was banded together to fight back and we created the council of gifted to save us from them.

I was the most powerful witch among many powerful beings, and it had taken all of our strength combined to defeat them. Even elves from the alternate realm and all their magic. We brought down the empire five hundred years ago and weeded out those with the superhuman strength and skills of the hunters. We killed most and those out of reach were laid dormant from afar. They either lost all memory and connection to their home and purpose or they fell into a deep sleep never to awaken. We thought the task was done and went about our lives in peace and security once more.

Why now? Why one raised hunter?  What does this mean?

As far as I know, the Hunters do not have immortality, so any left straying should have died long ago. The blood lines considerably weaker if flaws happened and any reproduced. It would or should not hold the same effect. 

Is this why I have come here? That gut feeling inside. Is there a hunter awakening in the midst of the people of Newark? Some distant relative with abilities about to make himself known?  Is this the dawning of his coming of age, when his inner soul will erupt and ignite all those murderous gifts that come with a thirsting rage against immprtals.

If anything united a fear from both sides of dark and light it is the hunters. They were soulless creatures with no humanity and no empathy for those they killed. Like mindless beings who could only still when everything in their path was decimated. They could not be swayed from their purpose by any means or cries or begs. They had only the purpose of death. Grim reapers to immortals like me and Rinny.

'What does this mean, Leyanne?' Rinny has the same tremble of fear in her voice as I have in my stomach. Genuinely scared for what’s to come.

'It means I have to find him before he knows what he is and kills us all one by one.'