Tonight there wasn't much trouble, until Reaver and Caelan reached their destination. They were merely followed by a Level 3 for a while, which eventually got shot down by Caelan's gun. But as they reached the underground entrance to the metro station, where Reaver had detected the Level 5, the darkness got as thick as oil. And the smell was equally nasty.
"Guess he already had his dinner..." Caelan murmured towards Reaver, as he pulled the helmet off his head.
Reaver, who had stepped out of the SUV just now, nodded. "Horrible smell." he agreed. "Most likely some poor homeless rotting out there."
"At least what's left of him." Caelan dryly replied.
The sweet smell of rotting flesh and dried blood filled the air and almost stole their breath, when they slowly went downstairs. There were no lamps anymore and the only light source they had, was the small display of Reaver's communication headset. But thanks to the nightvision glasses and their improved immortal senses, they could see almost as well as a cat in the dark. Only that everything seemed a little greenish.
"Haven't been underground for a long time..." Caelan murmured with a grimace.
"Scared?" Reaver whispered back with a grin.
"I'd be a fool if I wasn't." the black haired hunter replied seriously.
"True." Reaver agreed and they fell silent again.
Soon, they reached the platform of the old metro system and the smell intensified. There was blood smeared against the walls but no bones. Level 5's left no bones. They ate it all. The handprints in the bloodsmears seemed almost human, which made it even more creepy. But when a Level 5 opened his mouth, there was no humanity left. They had sharp, long teeth like needles, which could bite through bones. But usually, when you got that close to them, you were already dead, killed by their element.
"It seems to be living here." Reaver whispered and held his gun up, ready to shoot any target.
Suddenly, there was a small gleam of light. Caelan wanted to warn his friend, but too late. A huge water sphere shot out from the darkness and hit the big man right into the chest.
"Reev!" Caelan called out and threw himself to the left. He quickly pulled his gun an fired into the darkness, where the water sphere had come from. But no chance, the bullets were immediately caught in water and uselessly dropped to the ground. Caelan's head spun around to his friend again, who was struggling to get out of the water. Only a few more minutes and he would drown in there...
Immortals were stronger than humans, so they could survive a few minutes underwater, but even they could die from oxygen lack. And if Caelan didn't manage to get Reaver out somehow, exactly that would happen. But he couldn't get close to pull Reaver out either. The water would simply suck him in.
"Damn!" he cursed. Then, he pulled his sword from the sheath on his left. It was made of reinforced silver and if there had been even a single gleam of light, the sword would have reflected it like thousands of mirrors. But there was nothing but darkness.
"Don't worry, Reaver... I'll get you out" he swore to his comrade, who was trying to move as little as possible right now. Reaver knew, he had to preserve his breath and try to slow down his pulse to survive. He had to give Caelan as much time as possible.
And then, Caelan lunged forward. With unimaginable speed, he ran towards the dark tunnel. A water sphere was hurled at him and he threw himself to the left. As the seconde water sphere appeared, he was already on his feet again. More and more appeared, filling the air like snowflakes, but he danced through the water orbs like a faerie and none of them was able to touch him.
And then, his sword pierced through something solid. An incredible screeching sound filled the air. Caelan quickly pulled his sword back, only to attack again. He swung it on neck height and with a nasty, smacking sound, the head of the demon fell to the ground and silence filled the air. Immediately, the water spheres dropped to the ground and Reaver got free, coughing madly.
"Cae! Everything ok?" he called, as he finally managed to catch his breath again.
"Yeah..." Caelan replied and turned around. His face was sprinkled with demon blood drops and where he had wiped his cheek, there was a crimson red smear from his eye to his chin.
"You look like Jack the Ripper..." Reaver commented. "Come on, let's get back to the car. I doubt, there's anything more down here. The Level 5 must have eaten all the other demons here."
Caelan nodded and stepped towards Reaver, until there suddenly was a movement behind him.
"Cae!" Reaver yelled and the blackhaired hunter threw himself to the side. However, he didn't count the rails in. Suddenly, there was no ground underneath and he fell down. He tried to grab something to hold onto, but there was nothing and then, his back hit the ground. The breath was squeezed out of his chest and his eyes widened at the pain. A little bit further into the middle and the rails would have smashed his backbone. Like this though, he would only have one hell of a muscle ache tomorrow.
Fighting to get on his feet again, he heard the sound of a gun shot. Reaver must be fighting whatever had attacked them, he realized. He quickly pulled himself onto the platform again, looking around for his silver sword. The sword was gone though. But what was also gone, was the corpse of the Level 5. No, not really gone. Actually, it was fighting Reaver right now, it's head attached to the torso by water strings.
"What the f*ck?!" Caelan cursed in shock.
He frantically looked around and finally found the silver sword at the foot of a pillar. Trying not to be noticed by the demon, he snuck closer, until he could pick it up again. By now, Reaver was being pushed back against the wall and barely held the demon off. With his strength, he was a match for most demon types, but this one required speed instead of strength.
Right as the demon wanted to crush Reaver into the wall tiles, Caelan called out and tossed the sword at him. In a swift move, the big man caught it and separated the head from the torso once more by cutting the water strings. As it fell once again, Caelan threw a bottle of holy water onto it and it started twitching like mad. Then... it lay silent.
"It's dead." Reaver commented.
"This time truly?" Caelan asked and raised one eyebrow.
"I think so." Reaver replied. "With all this holy prayers in the water, he can't manipulate it to reattach his head."
"Sh*t, what a nasty bastard..." Caelan complained and glared at the corpse.
"But it's weird. Usually, a Level 5 can't survive an attack like that." Reaver pointed out. "They've gotten stronger. We have to report it."
"True." Caelan replied and sighed. "Come on, let's get going."
~+~+~+~
When they reached the headquarter, Leon's eyes widened in shock as he saw all the blood on Caelan's face and clothes. Reaver's soaking wet clothes left small puddles of water on the floor and Willow watched the whole thing with a frown.
"A water user." she stated.
"Yeah." Caelan replied. "It's his blood, not mine."
"Thank god..." Leon murmured. "I thought I had to patch you up again already."
"No need to worry." Caelan chuckled. "We got it, though it was a tough one."
"Yeah, and you're creating another gread flood." Willow critically stated.
"It caught me by surprise..." Reaver growled and walked over to the medic room to get some dry clothes.
"Is he ok?" Willow asked Caelan, as he was gone.
"Yeah, no worries." the blackhaired hunter replied with a reassuring smile. "Though it really was a tough one. Got up again after I slashed off his head. Reattached it with water. And fought once more."
"It revived?" Willow raised one eyebrow. "Sounds nasty... But it would explain the phone call, we got."
"Phone call?" Now it was Caelan raising one eyebrow.
"The Vatican." she replied. "Sending backup from the other organisations. Four hunters for each team will arrive in a few days." Then she explained the whole situation and Caelan's expression darkened more and more.
"I don't like outsiders in our headquarter." Caelan growled and followed Reaver to get some clean clothes too.
"They don't seem in a good mood..." Leon murmured and his eyes followed them, until Caelan slammed the door shut.
"They will calm down eventually." Willow replied with a smile. "Reaver can't stand the fact that he got caught by the water demon. And Caelan is way too isolated for his own good. He will accept the new hunters soon. At least I hope so..."
"So do I." Leon agreed. "We'll have to work together with them. Say, could you introduce me as your medic to them? I'd like to prevent any stupid comments about kids at work and stuff..."
"Sure, why not?" Willow winked at him.
Relieved, Leon returned the smile and went back to the couch area to clean it up a little bit. On top of all the trouble tonight, there was an annoying itching feeling on his wrists, as if he had touched a stinging nettle. The skin was also slightly reddened, which worried him. As far as he knew, he wasn't allergic to anything and hadn't been in touch with any dangerous liquids either.
But as Caelan came out of the medic room again, his thoughts immediately got distracted. Apparently, Caelan had washed his face in the water basin, since his wet black hair still clung to his neck and water drops ran down his collar bone. Leon really wanted to trace the drop further down, as it disappeared into Caelan's shirt and he unconciously licked his lips.
"Everything ok?" Caelan asked and walked over to him.
"Yes... no worries." Leon replied and tried to smile neutrally. "Was the fight hard?"
"Harder than usually. But not life threatening." Caelan said and dropped down on the couch with a canned beer.
"You don't like the fact that the other organisations are getting involved with us?" Leon asked and sat down next to him.
"I merely doubt their reasons." Caelan replied with a frown. "There have been huge catastrophes before. The Salem incident... the Poland massacre... they never bothered to work together. The organisations are quarreling among each other like kids. I doubt, this incident will make them work together so suddenly. There's more to it..."
"You're sharp." Leon stated with a small grin.
"And you don't seem surprised." Caelan replied and raised one eyebrow.
"After we got the call, I did some hacking, since I was curious..." the boy said with a mysterious smile.
"You hacked into the Vatican's server?" Cae asked and his frown deepened. But there was also curiosity showing on his face.
"No, even I can not get through such a security barrier. At least not in such a short amount of time." Leon replied. "But I've been able to snatch away some information from other sources. Top secret of course."
"What did you find?" Now, Caelan was truly curious.
"They've all been in uproar about some kind of prophecy. I don't have enough knowledge to decipher it, but it sounds serious." Leon explained.
"Tell me. Maybe I can help." the ravenhaired hunter suggested and Leon nodded.
"I couldn't forget the words once I read them. It goes like...
Humanity,
engulfed in an era of darkness.
The demon blight,
wandering upon the surface.
The seals shall be broken.
Blood shall fall like rain.
The ground shall shake
and swallow it all
into the deepest abyss.
Prayer, thou shall not fear
for the one will come
who bears the stigmata.
To turn darkness into light,
his blood will purge the evil."
Caelan fell silent for a while, his eyes closed while thinking about it. Then, he took a deep gulp of his beer and sunk back into the pillows of the couch.
"And?" Leon asked.
"It's old." Caelan finally replied. "I think, many versions of this prophecy are scattered through most of the religions. No wonder, they're working together now. I don't know what those words mean for us, but just in case... be careful around the newcomers. I can't guess what they will do."
"I will." Leon agreed and unconciously rubbed his wrists together. The itching pain was back...