"This way."  Taren tried to hide the urgency in his voice as he gripped Kari's hand.

They turned right at an intersection, away from the Hunter's line of sight, thankful for the afternoon rush hour as traffic picked up and pedestrians streamed the sidewalks.

With a worried frown, Kari glanced back across the milling crowd, toward the Hunter's direction. "There was another man in the city that looked just like that guy. I couldn't see his face clearly—and I think he held a knife--" She let out a tremulous breath. 

Taren's thoughts raced. She's not supposed to see them— no ordinary human can. So how--?

His eyes darted at the girl beside him, feeling a sudden, overwhelming urge to protect her at all cost. 

"Who are those men?" Kari asked in a tight voice as they made a left on a side road.

Taren looked away from her clear gaze. He could only watch, helplessly, as the wall of secrets he had carefully built between them--for the last eight years-- started to crumble.

He felt her hand squeeze his.

"I promise I won't cave in," she said firmly. "Besides, do you think leaving me in the dark will keep me any safer from what's out there?"

The boy glanced at her with a pained expression in his eyes. How can he bring himself to let her in to this dangerous world he faced—and lived every day?

But she was right. She deserved to know the truth; there was no other way, now that his enemies have set their sights on her.

Evan's going to kill me for this. Taren grimaced at the thought, but he had already made up his mind.

With a slight shake of his head, he took in a breath, and said in a quiet voice, "They call themselves 'Hunters', a hidden society of highly trained assassins and"—he searched her face, bracing for the disbelief in her eyes-- "sorcerers, who thrive on stolen power. Their bladed weapons are laced with a powerful poison that can kill a man in seconds. And once they've been handed a target, they're relentless. They won't stop until that target falls in their hands, or has been— silenced."

* * * * * * * * * *

Kari's steps faltered as a cold dread washed over her.

"Hunters?" And did he just say sorcerers? "But why--" Her throat felt dry, a part of her refusing to believe what she had just heard. "Why would they be after me?"

This doesn't make any sense! Her thoughts screamed at the absurdity of it all. But she couldn't deny what her eyes had seen.

Taren faced her, holding her arms gently. "I promise I'll explain everything when you're home safely. For now, we have to keep moving. Do you trust me?"

She nodded, the warmth of his touch bringing her back from her spinning thoughts.

Yes, we can't stay here. 

 "My place isn't far, just a few blocks from here." She pointed to a side road across the busy street.

They walked briskly, crossing to the other side of the street, the sounds and bustle of traffic somehow reassuring.

Kari noticed Taren's gaze grow distant as he scanned their surroundings. It didn't take long before he muttered an elaborate curse—in what sounded like a mix of German and Japanese.

"There are three Hunters within the area, two behind us, and one in the direction we're headed. I don't think they've spotted us, but we should take another route if we can."

Kari quickly glanced around. There were no Hunters in the vicinity as far as she could see. She gave Taren a perplexed look before saying, "I know a detour, this way."

She led him to a narrower lane from the main street. How does he know exactly where those men are?  She realized she knew very little about him, but she bit back the questions that flooded her mind. Now wasn't the time.

The girl held her breath as they headed down the nearly deserted lane, half-expecting a Hunter to show up anytime. She heaved a sigh of relief as they emerged, back into the busier section of town.

After walking a couple blocks, they took an alley leading to the town's residential area. On either side of the narrow road were high concrete walls enclosing several apartment buildings.

"We're almost there." Kari glanced at the boy with a relieved half-smile, but his attention was focused on something else at the end of the alley.

His grip tightened on her hand as if to reassure her, before letting go, stepping between her and the path ahead.

"Stay behind me."

Kari followed his line of sight and her breath caught.

A man dressed in black emerged from the shadows that cloaked his form. Kari shivered at the Hunter's lethal gaze.

Long, twin black blades materialized in the Hunter's hands, tainting the air around it with darkness.

"Taren--" Her voice seemed to catch in her throat as she reached out to him. "We have to run—now!"

"They're closing in, we won't make it out of this alley."

The boy's eyes seemed to blaze like cold fire as anger coursed through them. But as he turned to her, those eyes softened. She saw something else in them—regret?

"Kari, I'm sorry— I should've told you sooner, who and what I am. From here on, everything you'll see will defy reality as you know it. No matter what happens, don't move from this spot. I promise I won't let them come near you."

Before she could say another word, Taren strode deliberately toward the Hunter.

Something flickered by his right hand, taking shape out of the very air. A bitter, cold wind brushed her face, and before she could blink, a silver-blue broadsword formed in his hand. Her eyes widened in amazement while her mind spun, as she stared at the sword, gleaming like ice crystals under the light filtering through the alley.

The Hunter rushed forward at alarming speed, his entire form a blur. Shadows swirled around the twin black blades he held in each hand, seemingly alive.

Taren swung his sword in a wide arc, and long, dagger-like slivers broke out from its length, hurtling toward the Hunter.

The assassin leaped, his blades deflecting the deadly spears, as he quickly closed the gap between them. One of the shards struck his left forearm, hard, throwing his momentum. But the man held on to his weapon as if immune to pain or injury, his dark eyes set on the youth before him.

Taren was instantly upon him, his sword thrusting into the Hunter's vulnerable left. The assassin leaped aside, parrying Taren's thrust with his right blade as he lunged, swinging the left blade toward the boy's side.

For a split-second, the boy's form seemed to blur from Kari's sight, and before she knew it, he had stepped through the Hunter's guard, driving an ice-blue dagger that suddenly formed in his left hand, into the assassin's heart.

Kari's hand flew to her mouth as she saw the momentary look of surprise on the man's face, before he fell forward on the pavement. The girl quickly turned away from those dead, empty eyes.

As she turned, a dark, flickering shadow rushed towards her from behind. In a panic, she took a step back--

No matter what happens, don't move from this spot.

She stopped, remembering Taren's words. As the second Hunter drew close, something stirred around her, tugging at her hair and clothes, as if awakened by the man's approach. A sudden, strong wind veered from her with a screeching sound. It struck the Hunter with such force that it lifted him off the ground, throwing him hard against the concrete wall. He hung there, suspended in air.

Kari glanced at Taren and her breath caught, his eyes were a solid, fiery blue, the whites engulfed by their brilliance. With a cold expression on his face, he raised his arm toward the Hunter. As he clenched his hand, the Hunter made a choking sound. Cracks formed on the concrete as the swirling wind crushed the assassin's body against the wall. He dropped to the ground, unmoving.

"Behind you!" Kari shouted as the third Hunter leaped from a building adjacent to the wall, blade slashing toward Taren's back. The boy turned, the black blade inches from his chest as he stepped back, his sword coming up to meet the Hunter's attack.

The man whirled, daggers slicing through the air. Taren's form shifted before Kari's eyes with frightening speed as he lunged, parrying the assassin's left blade with his sword and dodging the other, the heel of his hand connecting with the man's jaw. The Hunter staggered back from the force of the blow, but not before Kari saw the faint smile of triumph on his lips. He said something to the boy that she could barely hear, his dark eyes taunting.

"... could not save them, powerful as they were ... what makes you think you can succeed, with this weak human?"

Those cutting words seemed to drive the boy over the edge. Kari stared, horrified, as with a snarl of rage, he drove the sword into the Hunter's chest.

Within a few seconds, the Hunter's body shriveled like a dried husk, burning from the inside out, until only black ashes remained. The girl shuddered as she turned around to find the other bodies, likewise reduced to dark smudges on the ground.

With a soft cry, she took a step back.

I've—seen this before! That dream—!

But it wasn't a dream, she knew that now. The scene before her clawed at long-suppressed memories, and something deeply buried in her subconscious resurfaced. Images of that night, eight years ago, flashed in her mind—

Blood on the snow ...

Dark, human-shaped smears on the turned earth ...

A white tiger, her life's blood spilling on the ice ...

and her cub, struggling under the merciless claws of a terrifying black beast.

"Ryu--!" she gasped. Her friend was in mortal danger, while she hunkered down behind a rock, frozen in fear.

She staggered back as the jaguar's vicious eyes swung in her direction, eyes that burned with unquenchable fire—much like--

Taren--

Kari desperately sought the boy as the waking nightmare threatened to engulf her mind.

He stood across from her, on a deserted alley that, in a matter of minutes, had turned into a battleground. The fractured wind stirred around him, and she felt the sting of ice on her exposed skin.

But he looked at her without recognition, unaware of the blood running from a cut on his arm. His senseless eyes blazed like the sun's very core, and the rage radiating from them struck fear in her heart.

She took a step back from the boy, hand over her mouth as if to stifle a cry, as the frightening memories and harrowing events took hold of her. All she could think of was to escape this nightmare that had suddenly taken over her reality.

But this time--unlike her eight-year-old self— this time she was able to move, and she turned away from him, breaking into a run, away from the stark images of death that surrounded him.