Kyle glanced at his sister, wondering how liberal to be with any information. She seemed to return a look to him that said ‘just tell her the basics’.
“We’re...” He began with a low voice, trying to find the right words, “We’re part of an informal organization of people who, travel to different places and… solve problems. Of the unnatural sort. We call ourselves Tourists, we know it’s… not a very imposing name.” He paused for a short moment and then continued, “We came to Santa Celia since our superiors have been hearing about more and more abnormal activity here. This string of murders for example, the body from yesterday.”
Ellara listened closely as the male began to speak, her ears honing in on his words over the dull roar of the busy bar. Her eyes narrowed with skepticism as he continued to speak but Ellara surprisingly didn’t interject or voice her doubt, deciding to take him at his word. Her head suddenly spun towards the female as the other woman opened her mouth to add her own thoughts.
“Speaking of yesterday-” Kayla said, immediately reaching for one of the jagerbombs and downing it without a second thought or even a chaser. She winced, but powered through it. Kyle, somewhat hesitantly, followed her lead. Kayla reached into her satchel for a small bag of powder that she had made earlier in preparation for this meeting. She rubbed her hands together and then clapped them near Ellara’s face.
”Elea!” Kayla snapped.
The power was fairly simple. If Ellara was some anomaly, she wouldn’t be harmed, but if she was Jäger she would
finally see Kayla for who she was rather than
what she was.
As the woman spoke, Ellara reared back in surprise, her face changing into the monstrous visage as a foreign word left her lips before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Instead, sitting across from her was a fair skinned brunette, and it was only now that Ellara realized the other woman was actually attractive and not just the wretched hag from the books in her father’s trunk.
Kayla waved her hand in front of Ellara’s face from across the table. She was no doubt somewhat disoriented. “Sorry about that. And yesterday.” Kayla started. “I read up on your documented physiology pretty last night. You probably have been seeing some branch of my ancestry rather than, well, me.” She retracted her hand and motioned to herself. As his sister spoke, Kyle took to looking at his phone, seemingly messaging someone while Kayla handled the conversation. “My name is Kayla.” She continued, “It’s nice to meet you. A
Hexenblut is a witch. Our bloodlines had history long ago. Between Tourists and your type, it’s been water under the bridge for eons.” Kayla finally concluded. “Again, sorry for being… cryptic. Technically we’re always on the clock, y’know? Also, got a lime?”
Kyle downed his second shot, scrunching his face a bit. He shook it off and then went back to typing on his phone. Kayla, not to be out done, followed suit.
Looking up from the table, Ellara spotted another waitress making their way past the table and she quickly pinched a lime from one of the Coronas atop the balanced tray. Tossing it towards Kayla, she gave her a bit of an odd look before speaking.
“What do you mean documented physiology?” She asked, her mind was still racing as a nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her that things weren’t quite as copacetic between the
Jäger and the
Hexenblut as the woman would have her believe.
“Excuse me.” Kyle said, suddenly getting up from his seat and walking away from the conversation with nary a look towards the two.
Kayla nodded to her brother as Kyle got up, but didn’t leave with him, instead more intent on speaking with Ellara. “You are a Jäger. A lineage of legendary monster hunters. Witches are unnatural and for the most part were one of the monsters that Jägers used to hunt.” she explained, taking another shot and chasing it quickly with the lime she’d been given. “Much better, thanks.” she said, before continuing. “As your kind got fewer and fewer, others took their place to help keep the peace. Some magic users like witches decided they were more human than monster. Our group is, well, one of them. We have quite a library, so I called in and asked what we know about your kin. Several of your brethren have worked with us over our history.” She said, taking another breath to finish her fourth shot in the span of only a few minutes. She sucked on the lime again and put the shot glass down. “I should probably slow down before I get myself killed.” she said, giving Ellara a small smile.
“Fewer and fewer?” Ellara asked, obvious confusion in her voice.
“Sorry, you’re obviously… uh, working?” She continued looking at the empty shot glasses.
“I must be in the wrong fuckin’ line of work.” Ellara muttered almost enviously.
“You get reimbursed for this too?” She asked, slight mirth in her voice before she stood up from the chair she had been straddling.
“I know we got off on the wrong foot but, look I’m Ellara, is there any way we can talk sometime when you’re not busy?”“Reimbursed if it’s important to the job. We live comfortably when we’re not risking our tails.” she smiled. “And, water under the bridge, Ellara. It’s nice to meet you.” she said, sitting back in her chair. “Listen, when Kyle and I got here we came here expecting to find some experienced monster hunter to help us, and you’re not that.” she sighed, and continued. “But you know what you are now, and if you don’t go looking for trouble, it’ll come looking for you. I’m no elder Jäger sensi, but we can show you the ropes. Y’know, help keep you and each other above ground.” Kayla reached down into her satchel and pulled her phone out, swiping to create a new contact and passing it to Ellara, wordlessly asking for her contact information.
Taking the phone, Ellara entered her information quickly, before raising a sly eyebrow and mischievously entered a heart beside her name. Saving the entry, she passed the phone back to Kayla as she looked around the bar.
“Did you need anymore drinks?” Ellara asked,
“Tequila could really speed the process up you know.” She teased cheekily.
Kayla laughed. “That’s- that’s what I’m afraid of.” She replied, matching Ellara’s mirth. “Listen, I gotta go find my brother so we can do what we came here to do, but if I don’t die tonight, I’ll text you.” she said. She reached into her satchel again and pulled out her wallet and placed a fifty dollar bill on the bar. “Keep the rest as a tip.” she said, giving Ellara a wink and slipping off the stool to catch up with her brother.
Looking down at the large bill before watching Kayla as she walked away, Ellara let out a low whistle before tucking it into her pocket quickly.
“Holy fuck.”
CaptainBritton,
Punished GN,
Kuro
