Page 47 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER ONE: SHADOWS CAST BY FIRELIGHT
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EVERYDAY ENEMIES
Do hunters hunt humans? Regular humans? No supernatural powers? No
ties to ancient mystery, no inclination toward ushering in hungry
horrors?
Yes, though it’s not common. Most hunters know they already run
afoul of the law often enough that hunting humans isn’t such a wise
move. But it happens. A gang muscling in on the cell’s turf? An
abortion clinic bomber wreaking hell and havoc in a small town? A
pederast or serial killer with no seeming ties to the supernatural?
They might be cause to put a bullet in a human head, or at least
kidnap and capture for the police.
Also, some humans ignorantly contribute to the strength of monsters.
An accountant who fudges corporate books and thus helps swell the
coffers of an ancient vampire might need to be put down if he refuses
to see the error of his ways. A drug dealer whose zoned-out customers
often end up as the unwitting recipients of spiritual parasites
might need to be taught a cruel lesson in customer service.
Morally, it’s tough for some hunters to go that route. Hunters fi ght
a fi ght that mortal law enforcement won’t, can’t, or doesn’t know
how to handle. It goes the other way, too. Mortal law enforcement
handles the shit that hunters don’t. When they violate that, it’s
hard to justify. One’s moral code winnows, at times.
It’s winter. A crying woman steps out into the snow, cov- Why do many slashers manifest supernatural powers? No
ered in blood. The waiting police empty their service revolvers hunter knows, but every hunter is afraid of the answer. Has evil
into her. She doesn’t seem to care. She charges at them. She been made manifest? Does the human mind have a switch in it
keeps coming. She keeps crying. that, when flipped, gives any person access to dread abilities? Is

It’s spring, at least in the hunter’s dreams. She runs some awful god or devil inspiring such slashers to kill?
through a meadow. Sparrows sing, finches flit. Then, pain. Abilities range, though some patterns are seen. Some
Her leg in a jawtrap. The clouds darken. Sun goes bloody. can suffer limitless physical punishment. Some are capable
Behind the clouds, a face, the face of a killer she hoped, prayed of supernatural levels of deduction and problem solving.
was dead. Some possess eerie strength, alarming alacrity, or burgeon-
Some humans, some hunters, go off the rails. They ing psychic abilities.
lose their minds. They give into evil. They are compelled Slashers are terrifying. To most hunters, they are a
to kill. plague that needs only wiping out. A few, though, try to
Hunters know them as “slashers,” and it seems a phe- commune with such killers, hoping to find a message or a
nomenon that, worryingly, gathers strength. They’re gen- still-human soul buried within. Can a hunter find success
erally lone serial killers. Some kill to invoke “moral mes- at this? Or will he find only a sucking void that threatens
sages.” Others kill to get revenge on those who wronged to make him a killer, too?
them. Others still pick a type — teen girls, cross-dressers,
father figures, psychotherapists — and end those lives Anomalies
with great zeal and lots of blood.
Of course, some hunters end up as slashers, which is the A man crawls out of a sun-touched Polaroid picture, his
most damning part of the whole thing. A hunter sees too skin faded like the rest of the image. He only needs a bride to
much, loses his mind. Next thing you know, he’s got a pair bring back into the photo.
of cleavers and he goes after every member of a werewolf’s A whitetail deer with black tumors hanging from its muzzle
family — every child, every aunt, every distant relative. Or and neck steps onto the highway. A car strikes it dead. The tu-
maybe the hunter sees every person as tainted by the super- mors open. Something a bit like snakes, but not enough like snakes,
natural, and in the strange puzzles and ciphers he leaves be- emerges from them.
hind at every murder, he either imparts his wish to be caught A set of white lights darts across the sky, and the teen
or is unconsciously dropping clues to some ancient mystery couple who watches them feels woozy, and soon they pass
that plagues the darkest recesses of his mind. out. Days later, the boy awakens on a long stretch of desert
highway. The girl lies next to him, her neck broken.
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