Hunters - 1 -

It was strange for the seventeen year old boy as he was inducted into the hall of slayers for the first time. He knew all about the things that went bump in the night, but he had never been allowed to actually seek one out until this day. September first, his seventeenth birthday. His entire family had been slayers and one by one they were slaughtered by the very things they sought to slay.

The boy sighed, his dark eyes gaze sullen as he thought about the reason he was being inducted into the hall at such a young age. Usually, a person had to wait until their twenty-first birthday and had to be put through days of rigorous tests before they entered these sacred halls, but the boy was there because he was the last of his line and the only slayer in his city. He had to be initiated and he had to fight. He didn't have a choice to throw the tests. He didn't have a choice to escape his destiny. He was a demon slayer and soon enough he was going to meet his first demon.

A door opened down the hall and the boy sighed as he saw the man standing there. This was his father's mentor. The only slayer that had lived past the age of forty and therefore was the elder and most revered was standing right there. The man stepped to the side to show the boy a long narrow stairwell that faded into shadow. This was where the slayers kept their pet demons. The ones they were able to capture and use for tests. The ones that weren't as vicious and almost seemed docile. The boy should have been frightened by the very thought of facing a demon without another person at his side, but he didn't care. He had just watched his entire family be mercilessly torn to pieces by a demon. He was ready to kill each and every one that got in his way.

The man patted the boy's shoulder as he reached for the torch that was mounted on the wall. The above ground part of the hall was always modern, but the belly of the beast never changed. The engravings that kept all the demons locked away in the pits were the very ones that had been carved into the stone walls centuries before when the very first slayer realized what their strengths were for. The steps were the very same steps, eroded to only a couple inches wide, that the very first slayer himself had carved into the stone.

The boy started his descent without a single word. He wanted to face the demons and find the demon within. He wanted to be able to rip the creatures apart and bathe in their blood as they had done his family. His mother. His father. His six year old sister! They had all been killed right before his eyes. The beasts had paralyzed him and made him watch. They had relished their deeds. They smiled and laughed as the tiny girl had cried out for her big brother to help her.

The boy cringed as he heard her high voice calling out to him. He saw her tears falling to the floor at the demon's claws to mix with her own blood. He could smell the light metallic scent that came from the entire room. He could still feel their blood on his body. No matter how many showers he took. No matter how hot or how cold, their blood was still on him.

The boy sighed as he finally reached the bottom. A long narrow corridor with doorways on both sides stretched out before him. The boy had expected to see bars or some other physical obstruction over the doors to keep the demons in, but there was nothing. The boy stopped and looked at the doorway to see that the frame was decorated in different symbols, the very same symbols that decorated the walls of the stairwell. The demons were confined to their prison by magic. There was nothing there to hold them in, but yet they were stuck. The boy couldn't keep himself from smiling. It must have been pure torture for the beasts that dwelt in the pit.

There was a hiss and the boy spun around to see a large demon wedged up again his barrier. The boy couldn't believe his eyes. He had seen drawings of demons, but he never imagined any would look as horrible as what was before him. The creature was covered in blue scales and had a long orange tail that was wrapped around his taloned feet. It had large yellow eyes that didn't blink and bright green lips that were pulled back in a snarl to show off his long fangs and jagged teeth. The boy thought he would be ready, but he wasn't.

The torch dropped from his hand and he took off down the corridor. He was only seventeen and still a child. He wasn't ready for everything that was happening to him. After a few moments, the boy had run so far that he couldn't see his hands in front of his face. He tripped on something and fell face first into the dirt floor.

"Young blood," the voice was light and haunting. The boy had never heard anything so enticing and he wished he had light to see the creature by. There was no way such a beautiful voice came from an ugly creature.

The boy pushed himself up and tried to find the direction in which the voice had come from, but he couldn't tell which direction he had come from. He was in the pit with hundreds of demons where there was total darkness and all alone. He had never been so frightened, but he couldn't let the fear envelope him. He had to stand strong and find a way back to the surface, "Who said that!"

"It was I, Truman," the boy spun around and his eyes grew wide as he saw a pale orange light illuminating the face of an angel, "Have you gotten yourself lost?"

The boy stared at the creature before him and wondered how long it had been in the pit. It looked like the creature was dressed in a black shirt and pants, but it was hard to tell with such poor light. There were numerous silver chains around the creatures neck that all had numerous silver pendants on them. His dark chocolate eyes were rimmed with a thick black line that just accentuated how beautiful he really was, "What are you?"

The creature smiled and the boy realized that the source of the light was coming from a small orb of energy that the creature had resting in his delicate hands, "An innocent creature that doesn't belong here," he closed his eyes and let out a low sigh that nearly worked in winning the young boy over, "I was only out for a night and these cretins captured me and locked me away down here," his eyes opened slowly, "It was the first slayer that was a monster. I am not."

The boy crossed his arms over his chest as he looked the creature over again. He was tall and slender and had the face of an angel, but there was something about those narrow chocolate eyes that unnerved the boy. The creature was pure evil, "How did you know my name?"

The creature smiled, his thin lips parting just slightly to reveal perfectly straight white teeth, "Ah, Tom Truman. The only slayer left in your family. You watched your entire family as they were torn apart by vampires. Nasty creatures, vampires," the boy glared at the creature as he went on, "You were only inducted into the hall because they wish to use you," he shook his head, "Too young. Too young. Won't last more than a couple years. Wear yourself out too quick."

Tom glared at the creature, "What are you!"

The creature cocked his head to the side, "Ah, you wish to know, but you don't have a name for me. You wouldn't understand my tongue. No," the creature looked down at the orb of light that he held, "You wouldn't understand a single syllable. Make your ears bleed, it would."

"Okay, Yoda!" Tom snapped, "What the hell are you saying?"

The creature looked up at Tom again, "Oh, yes," he nodded, "Yes, I know everything. I see everything. I see your heart. Pure. Beautifully pure! Deliciously pure!" his eyes lit up as he went on, "I can see your thoughts. I can hear your sister screaming in your ears. Tommy, help me. Mommy. Daddy."

Tom took a step towards the doorway to the creature's cell, "Shut up!"

The creature continued in a falsetto that was too similar to the tiny girl's voice, "No, Tommy, help me. Tommy! It hurts! Tommy!"

Tom lunged at the creature, easily passing through the barrier and knocking the creature to the ground, "Shut up!" he punched the creature, but the creature just laughed.

The haunting laughter echoed through the corridor as Tom continued to hit the creature without even phasing him. What was this beast? Why was he taunting him?

Finally, the creature threw Tom off him and kicked himself to his feet. He wrapped his slender hand around Tom's neck and lifted the boy off his feet, "Ah," the creature's voice was once again low and haunting, sending chills down Tom's spine, "it has been so long since I've been able to feel the life leech from a being as I take their life, but," the creature dropped the boy and shrugged, "you set me free and I guess I owe you something," he glared down at Tom, "Just remember, Truman, that if we cross again I will not be so merciful," at that the creature just disappeared.

Tom stared up at the spot where the creature had been. What was that? Who was that? How had they been able to contain such a powerful creature? How was he supposed to get the creature back?