Two Hunters and an Angel

“You sure the tip we got is good?” Sharla asked, trying to keep her eyes open, her feet propped up on the dash and coffee at her lips. They had been in the city for the past two months, and this was the biggest lead they had gotten.

“Watch the park,” Cam muttered, motioning across the street, though his eyes never left the book he was reading. “Stakeouts are part of the job. Get used to them.”

“But I’m the only one staking out. Why aren’t you watching the park?”

“Because I have you,” he replied, as though it was obvious.

“Screw you,” she muttered darkly, focusing on the park nonetheless. She fidgeted in her seat, the car suddenly feeling too small for her. She looked over at him, “What are you reading anyway?”

He shrugged, “Some vampire book. It’s got its facts all wrong though.”

She leaned her head to glance at the pages, then punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

“Twilight?!” She yelled, the late hour only making her mood worse. “Are you goddamn kidding me? My eyes are about to fall out of my skull because I’ve been staring at nothing for so long and instead of helping me, you’ve been reading fucking Twilight for the past four hours?!”

“Yeah I’m not a fan,” he said, completely ignoring her fury, although he did give his shoulder a rub. “This is not an accurate representation of vampires at all.”

“I’m gonna kill you,” she glowered at him. “I’m gonna kill you and they’ll never find your body. Not that anyone other than me would look for you anyway but...”

He held up his hand to silence her and immediately she went quiet.

“They’re here.” He said.

“No way,” she shot back, looking around, “I’d have seen them.”

Right on cue the figures came, two men appearing in the park across from them, as if the shadows had simply spat them out, so suddenly were they there. In addition, there were three very large dogs, or what appeared to be dogs, trotting up to the men from various directions.

“How do you do that?” Sharla whispered incredulously. When he didn't answer she tried again. “So these are them?”

“Werewolves.” Cam said, his voice hushed. “They’re the ultimate killers, and one of, if not the, most dangerous creatures out at night. Even vampires give them a wide berth. They move in packs, and have territory, kinda like a gang. The tip I got said this park was in there territory, and they survey it every week or so.”

“So what do we do?” Sharla asked. She had been with Cam when he hunted the occasional ghost, or restless spirit, but the most dangerous thing she had dealt with was a vampire, and Cam had said he was a relatively young one.

This was a different level; something in her body knew that. Her heart was pounding, and it only thumped harder the longer she watched them, conversing back and forth. Even the dogs, or at least, the werewolves that looked like dogs, seemed be talking, not so much with their mouths, but in gestures and body language, and the men understood. She glanced over at Cam, cool as ever, and wondered how he did it.

“That’s a thing with them,” he said, as if reading her mind. “Looking at them, for real, brings up some deep primal fear in humans. All you want to do is run. Can’t say I blame you, but keep your head. We’re just here to watch, that’s all.”

She nodded. She had trained for this. She had studied this, all of Cam’s notes that he had made just for her. He had dealt with werewolves before, although was always loathe to do so which she found odd because he was always so gung ho to kill anything else that preyed on humans. She took deep breaths like she remembered, centered herself like her meditations had taught her, and willed her body to relax.

“What the hell...?” Cam muttered, and instantly her eyes shot to the park, where a man dressed in simple blue jeans and a leather jacket was making great strides towards the pack.

“Who’s that?” She asked him.

“I have no idea, but he’s not one of them. Now look, see how they’ve changed?”

She looked closely at the pack, at the men whose bodies seemed to be literally rippling with barely contained fury, at the dogs whose fur stood on end.

“They’re furious,” she said.

Cam shook his head. “No they aren’t...they’re terrified.”

She looked at him, her eyes wide with fear. “But you said...what could terrify them...?” She could feel the unnatural panic returning and quickly focused on repressing it.

And then, the werewolves changed, their fury and terror unleashed, given form. They grew and grew, until both man and dog alike stood on hind legs, enormous wolves easily over twelve feet tall, with claws that could rend steel, and they leapt at the man

The panic was overwhelming now, she had to run, had to get away from those things, those monsters, and it was only Cam’s firm hand that gripped her shoulder, pinning her to the seat that calmed her down, his icy touch giving her a source of strength to cling to.

“This is the worst it ever gets,” he said, “Seeing them in their true form is the ultimate in terror but this is what you’ve trained for, and the first time is always the worst. Trust your training, and trust me.”

She nodded, breathless, sweat dripping from her brow as she willed herself to try and calm down, or at the very least, to not dive through the window and run and scream and...

And then it was over. The werewolves, the greatest hunters of the night were dead; ripped limb from limb in a violent display that showered the park in blood. And with the source of the unnatural fear removed Sharla began to calm down.

And it was Cam’s turn to feel terror.

“Cam,” she said, feeling better until she looked at him, and she realized that for the first time since he had saved her and taken her under his wing, that he was scared. He was never scared.

Ever.

And yet now he was scared of the man in the park, in the blue jeans and the leather jacket. He gripped the wheel so tightly she thought he might rip it off completely, his teeth pressed together so tightly she thought they might shatter.

It wasn’t until the man put his hands in his pockets and calmly strode away, like nothing had ever happened, and it wasn’t until Cam started the car several minutes later, and it wasn’t until they made it back to the little apartment they called home that she could even bring herself to ask him if he was okay.

So unnerved was she by his fear that when he spoke she almost leapt out of her skin.

“Are you alright?” he asked, sitting on the couch and motioning for her to sit with him. She did gratefully, falling into the couch with a thud.

“I’m okay,” she said, smiling that he had asked her first. He always did. “Cam what happened? What did we see? You told me only the absolute oldest of vampires could take down a werewolf, and even then probably not a whole pack of them, so was that a vampire?”

He shook his head. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Cam you were scared.” She said her voice soft. She wasn’t used to this. Cam was always the strong one. Always.

“Yeah I was,” he said with a sigh. “I was scared because I know exactly what that guy was. Remember when I said werewolves are the ultimate killers?”

“Yeah...”

“Well the only reason I said that was because I thought they were, because I didn’t think these things exist.”

“Cam what was he?” She asked, gripping his arm.

“An old wives tale, a scary story us hunters tell each other.” His eyes had a faraway look to them as he continued. “I didn’t want to believe it because I thought the world was messed up enough already, and because if he’s real, it means that she’s real...”

“Cam.” She said sternly, and he turned to look at her, his eyes focused on her. “What was the man we saw tonight?”

He looked at her for a long while, and she could all but see the gears turning in his head, his thoughts flying as he came to terms with what he was about to tell her.

Finally, he simply said,

“An Inquisitor.”

Two Hunters and a Rock Star

Cam scoffed and changed the radio station, only to change it to a station playing the exact same song.

He clenched his fists around the steering wheel, trying to focus on the road instead of the same Sebastian Jericho song he had now heard a total of five times since he left.

“I hate that guy,” he muttered, barely audible over the loud roar of the engine, yet loud enough that the woman in the passenger seat gave him a look.
   

“In his defense,” she said, “You’re not exactly his target demographic.”
    

“Yeah well I’m pretty sure he’s mine,” Cam shot back, his voice a little more agitated than he would have liked. The long drive seemed to be getting to him, and the fact that it was nearing three in the morning wasn’t helping.
    

The woman groaned, “Oh please, you cannot seriously believe that Sebastian Jericho, of all people, is something other than human.”
    

“Why not? Sharla I’m a hunter, I kill supernatural things for something that could possibly be considered a living. And in that business, you trust your instincts, or you get killed. And my instincts tell me that guy is not on the human level.”
    

Sharla rolled her eyes, “Yeah right, you’ve never even seen the guy; how the hell could you possibly know that?”
   

“Who says I haven’t seen him? I went to one of his concerts to check him out.”
    

Cam could feel her eyes staring a hole through him, like she was studying him, until finally she burst out laughing.
    

“What?” He asked, fighting the embarrassment he was beginning to feel. “It was a legitimate recon-op.”
    

She stopped laughing and looked at him again. “Oh god, you’re serious aren’t you.” And then she burst out laughing again, harder this time, by his estimate.
    

“I fail to see what’s so funny...” he grumbled, the embarrassment in full force now, though he didn't mind. She was the only one who could make him feel like that anyway.
    

Sharla bit back her laughter, wiping tears from her eyes before speaking. “Oh nothing’s funny, except I’m picturing you, a six foot monster with no hair, an eye patch, and scars all over you, standing in a crowd that consists of nothing but pre teen girls and boys who stole their sister’s leather pants and eye liner. I mean how the hell did nobody think you were some sort of pervert and call the cops?”
    

Cam was silent for a while. “Security kicked me out,” he finally said.
   

“Security...” she said, and then burst out laughing again.
    

“Wow, almost made it through a whole sentence without laughing at me,” he said, a grin spreading across his features, albeit one he could not help. He would never admit it, but he liked hearing her laugh, even if it was at him.
    

Finally, she seemed to calm down, although an occasional chuckle escaped her lips every now and again, and it wasn’t until they could see the city lights on the horizon that the mood changed.
    

“So that’s it huh?” She asked. “The place where we’re setting up shop?”
    

Cam nodded. “From what I’ve heard, there’s more than enough creepy crawlies here to keep us going for a long time.”
    

“Been a while since we actually stayed in one place long enough to actually start an agency,” she said. “You haven’t gotten rusty have you?”
    

He met her grin with one of his own, “Please; besides while I’m out there killing baddies, you’ll finally have something to do. Answering phones, talking to clients, taking down notes. I bet you’re excited.”
    

“If you think all I’m gonna be doing is playing secretary you’ve got another thing coming," she scoffed at him. "You trained me way too well to not be right there beside you.”
    

He laughed and focused on the road again. Things were finally looking up for them.
    

“I’m still convinced Sebastian Jericho isn’t human...” he muttered, knowing full well Sharla would start laughing at him again.
    

She didn’t disappoint.