And So It Begins

Dear Natasha

I am assured this letter will get to you in time to warn and prepare you. I have no right

to ask you anything but please read this letter to the end.

You are about to find out about the things your mother and I have always tried to protect

you from. It’s too late to stop this now. There will be people you might meet along the way my

child. Use that wonderful gift you have to know when I have sent them to you. They

will explain what I cannot on paper and can help you as you change. 

Make sure you have the things you may need with you at all times. Pack as though you

plan to hike and camp and wait for the right moment. There will be panic and there

will be chaos. Keep calm and you will make it to us.

Love Dad.

* * * *

CHAPTER 1-And So It Begins

Four men sat at a table in a coffee shop. They all had finely tailored suits on, 

something shiny and silver showing at their sides now and then as they spoke. Two of them had the

same emerald green eyes and black-as- night- hair. The other had eyes so blue they

seemed violet and hair that was so white it made your eyes water.

 They also looked

like four average guys in their twenties except that they were altogether over a

thousand years old. These were the real protectors and law enforcement. They

handled most big cases the humans couldn’t. Especially cases that were somewhat

paranormal. It wasn’t just the human world that had its criminals that were very

strong and capable of the impossible! 

The coffee had

just arrived at their table. The fourth man stared at his coffee with his brows drawn

almost low enough to cover his eyes. He took a sip of his coffee and looked up at the

others before he spoke.

“Does she even know who she is?” He asked the other three. Alex just shrugged and

looked to his other brother Shaun. Seth changed his hair colour simply by closing his

eyes when a customer entered the shop. His very white hair always drew unwanted

attention and frankly scared people. His two younger brothers were twins, they were

lucky to have been born with dark hair.

“She hasn’t got a clue. The Prince would just love to keep it that way and perhaps it’s

for the best Seth.” Shaun added trying to be fair.

“If we can get to her first then we might stand a chance.” Seth said in a way they both

knew meant he had already made his mind up.

“And what happens if we don’t find her and The Prince finds out?” Alex asked

knowing his brother would follow blindly. Not asking one question or thinking of the

consequences. 

“We find her whatever it takes or we don’t go looking at all!” He

answered his own question before the others could.

“If I may, can I interrupt for a moment?” The Alex spoke. “The Prince

will find out if and when I decide to tell him of it. When he does his pride will get the

better of him and he will come out into the mean, unprotected world. He has sent us

into missions where it was unlikely we would survive. Knowing we have family

depending on us. Did he ever think twice?”

 A shockwave swept through the whole shop. A sound as loud as thunder could be

heard from somewhere outside. The other customers were thrown out of their seats

with the sheer force of the shockwave. Those who didn’t run away lay motionless on

the floor. The air around them howled and tore at the building and everything in it,

making the whole place crumble and shake. The paint ripped from the walls and deep

cracks let the sunlight in. The four men were the only ones who stayed sitting where

they were. Lowering his cup Seth looked up to see the other three men both looking

behind him. He knew by the look on their faces that they had heard it too. He could

feel his heart beating against his ribcage like someone trying to break a door down.

He had to control himself…

Alex blinked and actually heard his eyelashes touch his cheek. His senses were in full

swing. Alex closed his eyes and tried to connect with the details he had seen to

establish what had caused the disaster. What he had just seen might just have been a

vision but it was going to happen just like he had seen it.

Alex put his hands flat on the table. He focused on what he could feel just beneath his

finger tips. This one had a lot of power and a cruelty that was so clear he felt it to his

core. Someone was out to hurt other people and it was close. He or she might have

even had coffee here this morning or still sat somewhere.

“I don’t hear any angry thoughts.” Seth said not needing to ask Alex what he had seen

since Seth could read minds. A man in a booth nearby got up suddenly and threw his

fork down. Seth shook his head as he heard the man think of how bad the breakfast

was. He might be annoyed but didn’t have violent anger. 

The feeling got weaker and Alex frowned as he knew he had lost the trail.

“There’s another problem.” Shaun started. “It’s not just a human out to do awful

things for no reason. We have a Hunter-Soul on the loose.” 

There was a gunshot. It wasn’t loud enough for the normal people to hear but he could

hear one clear shot. His ear had tuned in when the trigger had been pulled. His mind had gotten the message just in time to hear the hammer slamming down to release the

bullet. If you were to pay very close attention, you could hear the bullet scrape the

barrel ever so slightly like when a sword is drawn from its sheath. They had been

waiting three weeks to find this person. While the normal law enforcement did their

thing, they found unlawful people in unusual ways. If you could hear what people

thought, if you could touch them and know that if you distracted this person for just a

little while, you could save lives, you could handle things a little differently.

The downside to being too good at something was that you couldn’t take the credit for

it. They pretty much went round like superheroes saving people and appearing out of

nowhere. It wasn’t because they were being humble but rather forced by rules.

Unfinished business was a full time business. They were to find creatures and spirits

who had escaped their destiny or who needed to finish a few things. For the last

decade they had been hunting the really bad ones. The unspeakable, foul creatures

who had tormented others when they were alive had now found a playground in the

afterlife. 

If they were too late this time then they would have to find the culprit and find a way

to deliver that person to the cops. The first time they had done so, it had not turned out

so well. They had wrapped a mugger in rolls and rolls of duct tape and had covered

him in ribbons. They had then placed him at the steps to the police station with a card

stuck to him. The front had read ‘It’s a boy.’ And inside they had written “Dear police

people. This guy stole stuff so lock him up. Thank you and better luck next time-

TGRS.” It was lacking in flair but had gotten the job done. Alex wanted them to

wonder who they were so instead of ‘THE TRIGGERS’ he has wrote ‘TGRS.’ It had

also landed in the local paper and had gotten them into serious trouble.

“I’ll go out first since I can follow sound. Seth you come with to try and pick up

where it's thinking of going. Shaun you know what to do.” Alex said with a grin as

he lifted into the air just in time to hear a second shot even clearer this time.

++

Natasha stood in front of the small family supermarket feeling both excited and sick

at the same time. She was about to go in for a job interview for a job she needed but

didn’t want. This was how she felt about most jobs but she had perfected the art of

selling yourself even though you were rather sold on having a life. As she walked

through the store the same familiar  smells hit her. The clean, chemical smells mixed with the

smell of spice and raw meat from the butchery, then the cooking and baking of types

of food and pastries. She could smell the chocolate from the bakery and that the beef

stew that had just been given to a gentleman standing in front of the deli, needed a lot

more salt. Now it was just a little further till she reached the office. It was situated

next to the cool drink fridges at the back of the store. Sam took a deep breath, closed

her eyes and knocked on the wooden door. She heard a buzzing sound and the door

clicked open.

A rather overweight, balding man sat behind a desk that took up most of the small

room. He looked up from his sandwich and got up from his chair to shake hands with

her. The man was quite a bit shorter than what she was. He had wavy white and silver

hair that had been greased back to cover the bald spot on top of his head. His beady

dark eyes darted around as though he were scared and wanted to bolt out the door.

The moustache was the same colour as his hair and looked just as greasy. Sam took

the seat he offered and tried to smile

“Tell me why you want to work here?” The man said as he sat behind his desk again.

This was a question that had to be answered one of two ways. You had to really want

to work at the place you had applied to work for or you had to sound like it.

“Well Sir I need a job and I’m really good with people. I also live really close to your

store so I can come in at any time.” Natasha replied regretting the words as she heard

them.

“I see you’ve worked for quite a few places in the past few years. Why is that?” The

man asked with a gaze that made Natasha feel very uncomfortable. 

“My parents moved around a lot but I’m looking to stay.” She didn’t know what

else to say .It was true her parents had moved around a lot but the real reason was that

most jobs bored her to death. The ironic thing was that she was a great employee who

got good references wherever she had worked.

“Well you do have a lot of retail experience if I look at your résumé and you’re 

references check out fine… When can you start?” The man asked as he took a bite of

the sandwich he had been eating earlier.

“Would Monday be OK with you?” Natasha replied as she wondered if she shouldn’t

have said Thursday or next month maybe.

“That sounds good its better to start on a new week hey.” The man said with a smile.

“OK I’ll see you Monday at quarter-to-eight.”

Natasha walked out of the office and then out to the parking lot. She walked into the park

across the street and sat down by an old Weeping willow.

“So how did it go?” Said a voice just behind where Natasha was sitting.

“I now have such luxuries as bread and milk within my grasp.” She answered with

the first genuine smile she had felt all day. It was Natasha's best friend Declan and in truth

her only friend too. 

“It looks like we might have something to celebrate. ” Declan said as he sat down

next to her. He caught a scent on a passing, gentle breeze and turned to see if She

had noticed it. There were tremors under them that seemed to be like an earthquake

but that loud sound was out of place. Her father had approved of him to be her friend

almost their entire life but, on a few conditions. The most important one was that she never

knows who she is and that he never show what he was capable of.

“To hours so long you spend you’re off time recovering and a salary that makes you

never have your payslip in the car.” Declan said raising his hand in the air with his

hand cupped, pretending there was a glass he was holding.

“And why not?” Natasha asked really felling confused.”

“ Coz otherwise if you got into an accident people would think you tried to kill

yourself.” Declan replied, his eyes dancing with laughter.

“That’s so mean.” She said as she tried not to hurt herself with the effort it took not

to laugh.

++

Seth and his crew arrived at their destination. They had travelled by air in a few hours, what

would take a car a day to drive. They had closed in on their target and he were about to

detonate the bomb he had planted in almost exactly the same dinner they had sat in

this morning.

This was the part Alex hated most. When you had limited time to stop someone it

sometimes cut very close. They had no idea where the bomb was or how long till it

would explode. They were almost where he was if only they could lay eyes on him. Time was running out...fast!

++

Matthew opened his eyes and winced as the bright sunlight hit his eyes. He got up

slowly and his head started to pound. Matthew sat up and looked around the liquor

store. The bottle of Rum he and his friends had been buying was still in his grip. He

still felt rather drunk and just laughed as he stumbled out into the parking lot. He

didn’t notice the people on the floor or even the bloody hand prints on the walls and

doors.

He opened the bottle and took a big gulp of clean liquor. If his friends were going to

leave him to walk home then he would leave them without a drink. As Matthew

walked block after block he began to feel more tired then usual. Something was very

wrong. He was hungry, very hungry.

Matthew saw Brice standing nearby. He was one of the guys he knew from High

School and he had never been nice. The first day of school he had pelted Matthew

with rotten egg and had thrown him into the girl’s bathroom. Matthew usually felt

embarrassed when he thought back. This time it did was make him angry. So angry

that by the time he got right next to Brice, he couldn’t control his hands as his right

hand formed a fist and then landed squarely on the bully's jaw. Brice fell to the floor already

unconscious halfway to the ground.

Matthew had never hit anyone in his life. He felt proud that he had such strength and

wished he had defended himself a lot sooner. OK he hadn’t defended himself exactly

but how many times had Brice hit him out of nowhere? Two wrongs didn’t make a

right but right now it was nice to be wrong. 

It had been a while since the event in the hotel and things at home had been pretty

normal. There had been signs but Matthew couldn’t even think of it. He had just

wanted to pretend it was a very bad, very vivid dream, so he had tried to go to parties

and had forced himself to drink way too much. It may make him forget but there was

no hiding that he was getting sicker every day.

 

The Prince

Jake opened his eyes and then closed them again as the morning sun hit his eyes. He

grabbed the blanket and turning onto his side he pulled it over his head. He just

started to fall back into a peaceful sleep when his alarm went off. Reaching out he

pressed the ‘snooze’ button. There was a loud knock at the door and whoever it was

almost broke the door down.

“You’re Majesty. Are you awake yet? We have only five hours until the wedding?”

Said a voice that sounded very impatient with a hint of nervousness mixed in.