Contract

Hunted

Dayron huffed, as he slung his heavy battleaxe onto the back of his steel plated armor, the latch clicked and held it. His face was bloodied, but it wasn't his blood. He turned to face Benedict. "You have it's head off yet?" He asked impatiently, his smooth yet dark voice echoed in the dimly lit catacombs underneath the slums of Valcurge.

"Yeah, just gimme a sec." Benedict took his deep blue hood off and cut the head off the beast using his polished silver dagger, the lit torches around him reflected their light off of it. "I fucking hate werewolves, why can't we get a vampire contract these days, or a siren, hell, even a draconoid?" The darker skinned hunter complained, his longer black hair getting in his eyes, much to his annoyance.

"Be careful what you wish for, remember when we fought that djinn? It kept granting our wishes and deepest desires." Dayron reminded him, taking the furry head and carrying it. 

"Yeah, Ethal kept summoning hookers, it was a pain to kill it." Benedict chuckled. "Where is he, and Sirus anyways?" Benedict asks as he stands up, brushing the dust off his bloodied leather tunic. 

"Ethel and Sirus are up top, probably watching the poor sod the werewolf bit, making sure he doesn't turn." Dayron explained, turning to leave the darkened tombs. Benedict let out a sigh, put up his hood, and followed him, eager to escape the vast empty tunnels. 

-

Sirus took another drink, wrapping his armored gloved around the mug. "Aren't we supposed to be looking for this soon-to-be werewolf?" Ethal asked worringly, leaning on the wooden counter to look at him. The bustling and business of the bar made it hard to hear Ethal, but Sirus understood. "Calm the fuck down, the half-wolf's here, I'm sure of it. I talked to his family, this is his favorite bar to go to." He assured him, spilling some beer on his armored leather and steel jacket. He brushed his shoulder, the chainmail rattling to his touch.

"We can't fight the halfwolf here, it's too crowded, and you know how the contracts are with casualties." Ethal spoke, looking around as if someone's watching him. "I'll lure him out, be patient." Sirus said calmly, his relaxed tone worried Ethal, until he remembered how good Sirus was. There's a reason why these four have been around for years.

Sirus perked his head up, and spotted Benedict and Dayron entering the tavern, the rusted hinges on the fragile wooden doors creaked in the busy atmosphere. "Where's the head, Dayron?" Ethal questioned him, adjusting his brown dirty coat, the crossbow on his back clinging tightly to him. "Don't worry, Benedict and I collected the payment, and now we just need to take care of the half-wolf."

Benedict turned to look around, to see if he could spot any sign of the halfwolf, but a man bumped into him, catching him by surprise. Benedict stumbled back, and frustrated, he said, "Hey, watch where you're going." The man looked at him with disgust, he was hairy, his long brown curly hair was seemingly untamed, his beard following in his hair's footsteps. He stepped through the assortment of both peasants and high class, and out through the door.

"Benedict, that was the halfwolf." Sirus said, dropping a gold coin to a bartender as payment. "We have to go, now." Dayron and Ethal hastily followed the man, Sirus and Benedict tailing behind. They poured out onto the dark and dirty streets, searching for the soon-to-be-werewolf. "There!" Dayron shouted, pointing to the man who dipped into the street alley. The four of them began running after the man, to confront him. The man turned to see the armed monster hunters in the alley, and he knew he was trapped. "It's not my fault, I didn't want to be a werewolf!" He cried out pleadingly, hoping the men would grant him mercy.

"I'm sorry friend, but as of this moment, there is no cure for lycanthropy. We can't take the chance. What if you kill someone, and you wake up surrounded by corpses? It's just not the thing we can let go." Sirus reasoned, and gestured for Ethal to pull out his wooden crossbow.

"No, please! I have family!" He begged, dropping to his knees on the dirt. "Exactly why we need to put you down." Ethal remarked, and fired the crossbow; the silver bolt pierced through his skull, and he dropped dead onto the ground. "Another contract completed." Dayron spoke, and walked out of the gloomy alleyway. "Lovely, so we just leave the corpse and a note explaining why he's dead?" Benedict asked, walking to his body. "Yeah, same old." Sirus answered, and he followed Dayron out along with Ethal. Benedict left a crest of his monster hunter guild on the body, a bronze dragon insignia. Benedict joined them.

-

Sirus loaded his gear onto his golden stallion, while Dayron and Ethal packed up their campsite. They had set up a temporary home on the outskirts of Valcurge, since they could not find a place to stay within the large city. "Dayron, do you have everything?" Sirus asked, hopping onto his steed. "Yeah, I do." Dayron answered, as he sat atop his white one. "You didn't forget anything?" Ethal asked, climbing onto the back of his brown horse. "Are we ready to go?" Benedict asked, emerging from the forest as he guided his black horse to the others. "Where'd you go, Benedict?" Ethal asked, turning his head.

"I picked up another contract, and this one is gonna make us filthy rich." He said gleefully.

 "Oh yeah, how much is the contract?" Sirus questioned him. "400,000 gold." Benedict responded, taking out the contract that was pasted against the bounty board. 

"Best part is, it's an easy contract." He waved the contract around, to show them. "Someone's put out a bounty on a higher vampire, a Queen Jayma Gunn. Lives in a castle outside of Pittursville. We've killed their kind before." Sirus smiled, and looked at the other hunters, who grinned in approval. 

Sirus, content, spoke to Benedict. "Let's go kill a vampire."