Page 139 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

CHAPTER FIVE: TO HELL AND BACK

The Enemy

Every newbie gets the speech. The enemies are demons, pure and simple.
They’re fallen angels who scoop out human souls to possess lives. They offer
deals and bargains and all manner of slimy enticements, but at the end of the
day, they’re just monsters.
Demons have a variety of MOs. Some start cults, others run companies. The
common theme is corruption. Demons entice plain ole human beings to do
the devil’s work. In the process, they whittle away their souls.
Now, the Knights aren’t a religious organization. The boss, Casey,
she was raised right, but that’s not the point. The point is that by the
end of your first or second hunt, you’ll have seen a creature straight out
of hell, and either put it on ice or put it down for good.
Whether the Knights capture or kill depends on the contract.
Casey speaks to the client herself, and gives out instructions for the dis-
position of targets, which are apt to be a bit bizarre. A subdued demon
might get delivered to an anonymous warehouse, where he’s taken by a
man with a lab coat and no pupils. It might get delivered to a cryonics
facility, one of those places the rich preserve themselves for all eternity.
Or, sometimes, even the back door of an abandoned church.
You never can tell where the boss is gonna send you next, or who
the target’s going to be posing as. And it doesn’t matter, because
brother, you’ve seen the truth now and there ain’t no going back.
Hunters

You were just out of the service, and not sure what to do
with yourself. You saw an ad looking for someone with police
or military experience. Next thing you know, you’re out back
of a Denny’s putting shotgun holes in a creature
straight out of an Alien movie. Now you’ve got a
mission: make sure things like that don’t go free.
You were a bouncer in Chicago, and got a lit-
tle curious about the black SUV parked across the
street from one of the clubs you worked. When
you confronted the folks inside, they took a look
at you and asked if you were available for some
work Sunday. And then next Wednesday. And
then holy shit, first time you got a job with a
health plan.
You were a secretary for a bail bond agent. Your job
was mostly calling people up and lying to them, looking for
that one-in-a-hundred thread that’d lead to a skip’s new address.
One day, one of your old coworkers called up and asked if you’d like to be
part of the real action.
You were a private detective in Miami. The hours were long, and you
didn’t have much in the way of a social life. One time you followed a guy to
a hotel, usual wandering husband job, and you took a peep in the window.
What you saw changed the way you looked at the world. Now you’re doing
the same job as before, only the stakes are much higher and the pay is much
better. Plus, you’ve got the best friends a guy could have.
Jobs

Dispatchers cover a lot of the logistical side of things. A dispatcher gives
out assignments, but also provides needed services like “legit” bounty hunt-
ing jobs that a field team can use as cover.

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