It was a chilling hiss carried across the impossible breeze from where Arleta was.

He shrugged, pushing it aside as just another ghost of his mind. But then an invading whisper grew louder, closer. It was of some foreign tongue, while the message was all too clear: You are not wanted.

The torchlight in the chamber suddenly went berserk and then imploded, glowering somehow, sending pulses of bone-chilling cold rushing through the room, and footsteps of old dust and fresh blood filled the air.

Out of the deep darkness, an impossibly long shadow plucked itself from one of the cave walls and began a slow silent journey toward them, its shape becoming stranger and stranger under the engulfing web of darkness.

Night Hunt

It was 4:00pm.

Perhaps he should be away from his private room, for his night hunts. According to him, his day was not only hectic but also boring.

Nearly everyone already saw the Contra Sanguess search as an unknown team just out for evil.

Hagel was a very active and skillful Contra Sangue gang person, the major thing he would do is detect people.

"Grok should have been here, by now..."he said to himself.

Having flexed in his room for hours, he discovered he had to call Grok to come, after all the latter should have done so, without being informed.

Grok was a thirty year old attractive and intelligent gentleman. Always stored by his right elbow was a red pistol, which he used to threaten the city abductors, and the low-ranking vampires.

When Hagel realised time was fast going, he stared at his wrist watch for some minutes and at a time, he reached out for Grok.

"Hello, man!"he greeted.

"Hello! How's your day going over there?"Grok returned, his voice low in the greeting.

"Don't you think it's time you joined me in tonight's exploration?"Hagel asked him.

"Well, I'm feeling a bit sick, but I will make it up there in minutes..."Grok started to reply, but then Hagel cut in, almost getting angry.

"Sick, you said?"he asked in exclamation.

"Yes Hagel, I've been on drugs since the last two days, and that's why I have not been regular these days…"Grok explained, and hung up the call.

"What the…? Grok broke up the conversation? Why such?"Hagel said to himself, wondering how sick Grok had been, or could be.

In a few minutes, he was up for business as usual. The night was now Hagel's busy time. He would stay around a corner by the city main road, watch out for vampires and armed monsters, to capture them.

Immediately he raised a step from his room, Hagel heard a footstep and also sensed some strange thing move around. Perhaps he was seeing a human like him, he did not know yet, and so he walked out boldly to see.

He closed the door behind him, stalked outside the building finally, and stomped his foot on the tarred road.

"Maybe you could just come out and experience defeat? Who's there? Who are you?Hagel exclaimed, in full expectation of someone, possibly an audacious vampire. Just come and know what the secret Contra Sangue team member is made of!

He did not see anyone, not even a passerby. It was now 6:00pm when every human being who worked in the city would be heading home, in their crowd.

6pm.

It was the very right time he should be expecting many people, especially the monsters who sneaked in among those who went back to their homes. The monsters were vampires, perhaps their mage types and robbers, seeking to destroy the humans.

"I think the rain is kinda coming this way, maybe that's why people are staying back at their places of work..."Hagel said, but then someone held him between his words.

"Hello!someone greeted from afar, waving hands and shaking heads as a signal he had been there since, though not too long. Good evening!

So, Hagel walked fourteen feet to the spot and realizing it was Jorin, he frowned his face.

"Why did you frown?"Jorin asked him.

"I thought it was Grok? Is he that sick? Infirm, should I say?"Hagel questioned angrily.

"Grok committed a sin. According to the law, he's very wrong for what he did, some weeks ago..."Jorin began to explain.

"Is the guy a sinner? He has been, since when?"Hagel asked, interrupting Jorin, with his hands placed at his back.

"Yes, he's been an offender since the day he broke in..."Jorin was on the verge of utter his full response, but Hagel interrupted him.

"He broke in..?"Hagel repeated Jorin's statement, surprised about what Grok was reported to have done.

"Is there anything you're hiding in what you said?"Jorin asked Hagel, trying to avoid his question as he too always did, staring at Hagel and focusing on the hands at the same time, his arms folded by his back.

"Does that have anything to do with the matter on ground?"Hagel asked, his voice low and threatening.

"More than the matter..."Jorin answered bluntly.

"You have a point, but watch that thing right there..."Hagel stated, spotting another strange movement. It seemed like some creature dropped from the sky.

"Yes, there's another thing around us now?Jorin asked, watching out with glowing eyes. Wait, could it be the night men? Or, are they the eagles?

It was a giant eagle, who often flew around the city road and always helped them in catching and fighting vampires and armed monsters. The monster eagle had a very stunning build-up, with two larger wings than normal eagles in the local places.

When they discovered it was their helper, they both looked up and targeted it, to confirm it's the right eagle. It was Acquilius Brinus, the same eagle that helped them in their work at night.

Within some seconds, the robbing monsters were out, jumping ebulliently from a storey building up and down, through the roofs.

As one of them stomped his feet on the roof of his room, Hagel sighted him and traced him till he opened all the doors and the windows of the house.

He saw no one, not anything at all.

But, Jorin noticed his face at a sidewall, as he was trying to steal some documents around a table, he smacked him hard, leaving him on the floor.

It was then Hagel ran there and stood by his side, lashing him with a long cane. Actually, they both focused on knowing the man, more than beating him up.

Hagel swiftly curled his own legs toward the man and held his chin. He asked him, "But, you look so much like someone I know!"

The young and pitiful man blinked, his eyes dreary. Then, he replied, "Maybe, because I know it is possible you do."

"Are you the same Imaginus, then?"Hagel asked him.

"I do not bear such a name, sir!"The suspect returned in response, raising his voice to make Hagel sure he was telling the truth, and nothing else.

"So, who is he? I mean, who are you?"Jorin questioned him next, staring at the man's figure. Tell me right now who you really are…

"You might know me, but I need to say my name... Maybe, sirs..."the suspect blabbered, as he lifted up his legs to adjust himself. Why not just…

"We ought to discern him from his words. C'mon! We've gotten some intelligence!"Hagel beckoned Jorin, listening clearly to the poor, robbing monster. Let us hear him out. He looks like the weakest vampire…

"Perhaps he is that same Imaginus... Who knows?"Jorin thoughtfully suggested.