Ch 1

  Logan steadied himself as he gazed into his reflection in the Council Chamber’s grand obsidian door. He knew the moment he stepped through he would experience a substantial amount of pain and humiliation. His reflection showed him the visage of a young man in his mid-twenties, short black hair, sharp features, and stark blue eyes. He wore a black combat suit composed of fully loaded cargo pants, a taught shirt with a clawed hand symbol prominent on the chest and shoulder, and a viking sword strapped across his back.

  Logan pushed through the door while swallowing past the knot in his throat. The room was dark. A black carpet connecting to dark walls and ceiling. The only sources of light were five lamps focused on five seats lining a curved table that ran across the opposite wall, and one blaring down directly upon Logan. He found the layout melodramatic while effective when delivering judgment. In two of the lit seats were a pair of the strongest beings in existence.

  To Logan’s right was Councilor Kuzunoha, representative of all inanely magical beings. She was currently the only living member of a powerful sub-race. She was a Kyuubi no Tenko, a celestial nine-tailed fox from Japanese folklore. The woman sat with regal superiority with powdered white skin, painted red lips, two pointed canine ears poking through her gleaming golden hair wrapped in a bun and was wrapped in a traditional kimono. Her most notable aspect was the nine large golden tails flowing out her kimono, through her seat, and out behind her. Even though she wasn’t using any of her abilities, Logan could feel the power held in each of those tails.

  To Logan’s left was his mentor, Councilor Sigurd, representative of beast-cursed and intelligent creatures. He looked like a normal human, he sat tall, had broad shoulders, slicked back salt and pepper hair, and wore a business suit and tie. He was one of the strongest of the beast-cursed with the magic of the Norse dragon Fafnir.

  “You have much to answer for Logan,” said Master Sigurd as he looked down at the kneeling agent. “You have rarely failed us, but that doesn’t change the situation. We read your report, but we want to hear your account firsthand.”

  “Yes,” said Councilor Kuzunoha in a slight accent. Her voice practically dripped with derision and self-importance. “We are confused on how one of our top ranked hunters failed so disgracefully.”

  Logan gritted his teeth to hold back a retort. He took a deep breath to center himself before starting. “As was stated in my report, my mission was to silence a reporter who was going to reveal our existence and couldn’t be convinced otherwise. Luckily, he was something of a paranoid recluse and lived on the outskirts of a town in Michigan. After locating his home, I just needed to go in and silence him. It was simple enough and went without a problem. After I was done making it look like an accident and about to leave, four crusaders opened fire on the house.”

  Both Councilor’s dispositions darkened. “And you are sure that they were crusaders?” Master Sigurd asked.

  Logan nodded his head. “Yes sir. They followed me after I exited the home and I took them out. I found their symbol on one of them.”

  “How were they able to ambush you?” Councilor Kuzunoha asked. “Surely you are not clumsy or inept enough to miss four armed soldiers when you arrived.”

  Master Sigurd turned to her. “Logan is one of our top hunters and trackers. At least better than any of yours,” he said with a smirk that earned him a scowl. “I doubt he is so careless to miss such signs.”

  Logan frowned; he knew what he said next could put Master Sigurd in a precarious position. “I’m not sure,” he answered, “they had something that covered up their sounds and scents while they were alive. I couldn’t check the bodies because the police arrived almost immediately after I finished off the last one.” He paused, “I think we’ll need to make contact with our agents in the government to cover this up.”

  Councilor Kuzunoha chuckled. “You failed quite miserably then. One of my d?kkálfar could have been in and out of that place in seconds. Those rats wouldn’t have even known they were there.”

  A wave of guilt hit Logan when Councilor Kuzunoha, as expected, used his failure to both brag about her own agents and humiliate Master Sigurd. It would take some time for Master Sigurd to wipe away Logan’s failure and return to his previous position. The political situation amongst the council was in constant flux. One day a representative may be the strongest and most influential, and the next he could be the lowest and struggling to remain in power.

  It was Master Sigurd’s turn to send a glare toward his companion. A sheet of silence covered the room as they all contemplated the latest information. Master Sigurd broke the silence with a sigh. “A failure is a failure, and failures must have repercussions.” Logan developed a cold sweat as the different possible punishments flowed through his mind.

  “Your punishment,” Master Sigurd continued, “is the demotion from hunter-class to that of guardian on a probationary status until further notice. In acknowledgment of your previous successes, you will keep all your possessions and your rank appointed living space until someone replaces you at the yearly assignments. You will also not be able to access the resources that would normally be allowed to those of hunter-class. You will remain demoted until you prove yourself worthy of being a hunter or prove you deserve to remain a guardian.”

  Logan hesitated at the implications that Sigurd set before him. Such a demotion, especially for a ranker, was only saved for major failures. He didn’t feel that the situation deserved such a punishment. He tried to analyze the situation and could only think that some sort of power struggle or hidden agendas were coming down on him.

  What was strange was that instead of being instantly demoted and outright disgraced, he was being given a way to redeem himself. Logan knew this was a gamble on Master Sigurd’s part, all of which balanced on if he could prove himself worthy to return to his previous position. He bowed lower before the representatives.

  “Lucky for you,” Councilor Kuzunoha said with an unnerving smile, “we have a mission that is worthy of your new position.” He gritted his teeth as he realized she was prepared for his demotion. Whatever was going on included her.

  “We’ll also be sending a hunter to make sure you do not fail again.” He forced himself to remain silent at her self-satisfied smirk. “She is also being punished, though her mistake wasn’t heinous enough for her to be disciplined like you.”

  He had an inkling who it was. “I will not fail again.”

  “You better not,” said Master Sigurd with a blood red gleam in his eye.

  Logan left the council chamber with a feeling of dread and self-destruction. Even though the results weren’t as bad as they could have been, it was still the result he dreaded. He had worked decades to rise through the ranks from a fresh Guardian to Hunter-class and he was demoted because of politics. As he started toward the elevators, he heard the light shuffling of feet behind him and down a nearby hall.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He sighed, “I know you’re there, you might as well come out.” He turned to look at the other person.

  “Oh my,” a playful feminine voice replied, “I thought I have gotten better since last time.”

  “You’re fifty years too early to try and sneak around me Miyuki. I’m guessing you’re my watcher for this?”

  Miyuki revealed herself with a mischievous smile. She was of Japanese descent, had black hair with a random purple stripe across her left temple, the same black suit he had with over a dozen extra leather belts crossing her torso and limbs, black lipstick and mascara, and had multiple ear piercings and a nose stud. The only thing that ruins the matching look is a double pistol harness with an old Smith and Wesson Model 10 revolver in each holster. “That’s right, it looks like we’re going to be hanging out for a while.”

  She was his unofficial partner. Whenever he was matched with another Hunter-class for a mission, more often than not it was her. This was because their skill-sets complimented each other while both mostly basing themselves out of Los Angeles.

  He sighed, “I was hoping you would’ve gotten out of your punk phase by now.” He turned away from her and continued his journey toward the elevator.

  She giggled while catching up to him while opening a manila envelope she was hiding behind her back. “But I like this look,” she whined with a false pout while flipping through a handful of papers. “I think it makes me look good.”

  He rolled his eyes before glancing at the near empty folder. “A little light on the information front.”

  She nodded and held the envelope out to him while replying, “yup, and it’s going to be quite the shit show.”

  He groaned, if Miyuki, the girl who would happily jump into a fire fight with literal fire, thought it would end badly, there was only pain in his future.

  “No doubt my mother set this up, she is determined to get you officially demoted.”

  As he was about to begin reading, they reached the elevators. After pushing the down button, he started reading the assignment. It appeared that the assignment was sending him to India in which they were to retrieve an artifact before a human might find it.

  After reading the first few lines Miyuki brought him out of his musings. “The artifact we’re retrieving is supposedly beast-cursed.”

  “That means we have to get to it before someone gains a hitchhiker.”

  Miyuki nodded in agreement, “I hate it when we have to go against one of our own, especially if they’re a newborn.”

  At her comment Logan remembered the multiple hunts he had to take to capture or kill those who were unfortunate enough to be brought into the being world without proper supervision. After a ding and the elevators opening, Logan and Miyuki stepped inside. While the doors closed Logan selected multiple floors in a certain order. This selection was a code which allowed the elevator to go down to the secret floors below the building. Officially the only underground levels was that of the parking structure and maintenance tunnels under the building proper. In reality there were ten additional floors which could only be accessed by beings. They were warded as to prevent any kind of radar scan or accidental discovery.

  A light shiver went down his spine as the magic sensor scanned him to make sure he was a being and was allowed access to that area. Over the last few years, being researchers were able to merge magic and technology with regular successes. He considered their greatest result would be mana sensors. They were able to scan every wavelength of light, the subject’s health, and their true form simultaneously. It was an invaluable security device that was immediately installed in every headquarters and important stations. A miniature version of which was often placed on important portable tech like vehicles and phones.

  After the scan was complete the elevator started downward. “Let’s see what we got,” said Logan as he quickly flipped through the pages given to him. He quickly finished and had enough time to re-read everything before the elevator stopped. “Seriously, that’s it?”

  “That’s what I got out of it. It seems doable but something feels off.” She glanced at him before carefully continuing.

  He frowned harder as he closed the folder. “I agree. There’s a game being played and I don’t like it.” The two of them stood in silence for a little while longer, both mulling over their thoughts on what will happen next.

  He couldn’t help but become concerned at the actions of Councilor Kuzunoha. After living in the being world for so long he knew the level of backbiting that occurred within politics. While they are all on the same side and all shared core rules and tenants, each faction and sub-faction had their own interest as their primary focus. No matter how much they thought they were above humanity as a whole, that aspect was very human of them.

  When the elevator’s display read negative five the doors opened, and the two riders stepped out. “Let’s get this over with,” Logan grumbled as he moved forward.

  ***************************************

  Twenty-three hours later Logan and Miyuki were fully armed and beginning their descent into Kolkata. The flight from their Los Angeles headquarters was murder for them. A total of twenty-two hours non-stop. The good news was that they rode in a fully furnished private plane. The plane was spacious with multiple couches and chairs with attached tables, a large wall mounted TV and a small bathroom with a shower in the back of the cabin.

  “We’re beginning our descent into Kolkata,” said the pilot over the hidden speakers. “We have confirmed that there is a car waiting for you once we touch down.”

  Logan stood from the comfortable chair he stayed in for much of the flight and stretched as he felt the plane losing altitude. “Let’s go over the mission one more time.”

  Miyuki groaned. “C’mon, we’ve gone over everything at least three times by now.”

  He glanced in her direction to find her in the twin of the chair he was sitting in, but instead of sitting normally she sat upside down. He rolled his eyes as her feet swung above the headrest and her head danged with the tips of her hair brushing the carpet.

  “Better safe than sorry.” He picked up the manila folder with the mission information from the floor nearby. He opened it and began going through the papers. “The location is a hidden temple that was opened recently and about a six to seven hour drive out of Kolkata proper and four hours from our drop off. The reason the artifact wasn’t sensed before now is probably because the place was sealed until some humans opened it.”

  “Yea, yea, and we’re racing some archaeologists to get the artifact while also not knowing the layout of the temple or how many humans are scrounging around the area. As I said we’ve already gone over it.” She righted herself. “All we know is that the place is insanely old, and the artifact is a tiger statue.” She glanced at a black watch on her wrist, “and when we get there it’ll be the middle of the night.”

  He smirked. “Oh, what is another night without sleep? I said you should have gotten more on the way here.”

  She crossed her arms with a humph, “I did sleep, I just want this over with.”

  The plane suddenly touched down causing the cabin to shake and Logan to slightly lose his balance before regaining control. After two more touches the plane began slowing until coming to a stop. Without warning the cabin door opened and a built-in staircase extended to the tarmac.

  Before he could do anything Miyuki pushed past him. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

  As he descended the plane’s stairs, he looked for any threats. Everything was as he had expected. The plane didn’t land in an official airport but on what was essentially a long strip of flat concrete in the middle of the jungle. On the tarmac nearby was a large Jeep that wouldn’t stand out in the jungle or in the city. Standing next to the jeep was an incredibly muscular Indian man using an upraised hand to protect his face from the dust kicked up from the engines.

  By the time Logan reached the bottom of the stairs Miyuki was already in the car’s passenger seat. He sighed knowing that he would probably be the one driving the entire mission.

  As he neared the jeep the Indian man called to him. “Hello sir, you will have a total of ten hours as of this moment to return for extraction or send a report as to why you’ll be late. If you fail to do either, the transport will leave you behind.”

  Now that he was closer Logan was able to sense that the man was a being, he wasn’t in the mood to try and find out what type so he moved on. Instead of responding Logan simply gave him a nod, entered the Jeep and started it.