Richard hurried towards the door. But before he could get there, a snake grabbed his foot. He fell with a thud. The snake tightened its grip and slithered over him.

"No. Please." He begged as the snake made its way towards his face. But what good would begging to a snake do? However, the snake stopped and slithered back. Richard rose up , terrified and confused, again managed to come closer to the door. But then a monkey jumped on him and started banging his head against the door. After a few minutes, the monkey left too leaving a bloody Richard. Richard again tried hard to get to the door, wiping blood off his eyes. However, perhaps the animals had decided a go wilc party. This time, a dog slipped beneath him and grabbed his calf. Richard shrieked with pain. Then his senses blurred due to blood loss and his ears could hear a munching sound. He was being eaten alive!

***********************************************

[ Laura ]

A month had passed since I'd gone on my first job. Over the past weeks, Sebastian and I had gone on a few more jobs. We went on vamp hunt, ghost busting and hunting some weird mythical creature - Kitsune. But this time, Sebastian was quite keen to ensure that I didn't participate in the final action. Though I somehow managed to save Sebastian's ass during the Kitsune hunt, he still insisted that I wasn't suited for this life. We even went on a B class job. It was about stopping a summoning ritual and though I didn't get to participate in the action, I got the opportunity to read a thick old scripture describing demonic rituals and marks which, as you shall see, greatly helped in my near future.

Then on one job when Sebastian really would have died if it weren't for me to jump in, he finally started recognising my growth. About two weeks ago, he started giving me training. But I turned out to be a bad trainee. Yes, I did feel attach to swords
but even after he having taught me how to hold a sword for almost a week now, I still held it pretty badly.

Now, we were heading to Sebastian's uncle. According to him, his uncle was the only person who would know why demons were after me.
But before we could meet his uncle, something so terrible happened that it convinced me I was far from being normal.

"Where are we now? I mean, aren't we supposed to be at your uncle's?" I asked.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, he's busy somewhere else so we gotta spend this week." He replied.

"So we are working a job, right?" I asked excited. Somehow, hunting down the evil interested me, leaving apart the risk of dying of course.

"Not we, it's just me who's gonna solve this case. This one's pretty off limits even for me. You obviously can't come. " Sebastian replied.

"You know what kind of girl I am. No matter how many times you shoo me away, I'll still find a way to ..."

"Fine!" he sighed making me falter my voice. Actually I was surprised. Maybe he was just trying to shut me up.

I got up, took a shower and returned.
Sebastian was now watching some TV show - Two and a Half Men.

'Come on, it doesn't even have a plot!" I complained.

"What, this? No, it's a quickie. Waiting for Friends." he answered.

Friends was obviously one of my favourites so we watched it together. It was quite weird how a hunter who went after the crazy all his life was interested in Friends.

"So, I presume you have already been to Aber Cafe." I said.

"Yeah but there are not many missions over there. There are only S class and A class, both I can't take. But this one's just happened, just before we came in town. So we are taking it."

"Is it too easy? I mean I don't want another ghost thingy." I said honestly. I didn't mean I wasn't scared of ghosts. I just didn't want to go on another ghost job. My head was still aching because of that senseless vision that happened a month ago.

"Actually, if it's placed in Aber, it would have been an A class job. So it should be interesting." He answered.

"Wow! An A class job." I said enthusiasticaly.

"Yup. But don't get too excited. These jobs are a real pain in the ass." He said.

"That just means more interesting things and a high pay." I said wondering why was I thinking about money.

"Well, we don't get paid for unofficial unauthorised jobs. It's just that this job is actually interesting."

He threw a newspaper at me and passed the laptop. "Research please" he said. Curious, I read the newspaper. Actually, the earlier job was quite interesting than this one. While I was researching, Sebastian had gone to the Sherrif and strictly warned me if he saw me interfering, he'll leave me at a den of demons. Obviously I wasn't to budge by such puny threatens. However I didn't feel like going to the Sherrif. I googled about the incidents and yet again there were a number of stupid theories. Now I got it why ghosts and demons go after only humans and not after animals or other species like vampires. Because humans admired them so much. Fortunately I got what I needed from 'Satan's bitch', a username.

I was about to shut down the laptop and take a nap but something buzzed in my mind. First a violent pain accompanied by burning sensation and then a noise. I could hear screams and woes. I shouted in agony as I rolled on the bed, holding my head hoping that the pain would stop. I kicked the laptop and the pillows and curled myself in pain. Finally it stopped. I couldn't help but notice that this pain was quite similar to the one I felt when that ghost had touched me back then. What bothered me was a strange mark I saw or imagined to saw in this pain.

What was it about? The screams and the cries I heard, was it just me shouting in pain or something else did in my mind. I was terrified of the thought. Before I could think about it, Sebastian opened the door. He saw the laptop on the floor and the pillows all over the place.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" he quickly hurried towards me,his eyes flashing with concern. I wanted to hide it from him. I myself wasn't sure what had happened and needed time to figure it out. I nodded.

He sat beside me and gently rubbed my back.
"Laura, tell me what happened. " he insisted.

"Laura, Laura, you with me?" He asked and I noticed I hadn't been answering to his question.

"One moment I was checking the website and..and I saw a mark. Then a sharp pain erupted in my mind." I skipped the part about the screams and cries. I didn't want him to worry.

"What mark? Do you remember? " he asked. Actually I did remember the mark but I shook my head. I was just not feeling comfortable to talk about it just now.

"Ok, drink some water and take a nap." He handed me a glass of water.

I nodded and as soon as I closed my eyes, sleep drifted me away to the slumberland. When I woke up, it was evening. I was asleep all day long.

"You okay?" Sebastian asked me looking concerned. He was sitting on a chair beside me, scribbling something on a diary.

"Yeah" I nodded.

"Wanna visit the zoo? It's quite dandy." He asked.

"After what happened there, nope, thanks" I smiled. I couldn't help but notice how much Sebastian cared about me. I obviously had earlier asked him why was he helping me. He'd said it was a job and my father was paying well. But now that I myself was working along with him, I realised it wasn't just because of a job. Perhaps it was just out of the good of his heart or he liked me.

"So, you wanna eat something? You missed out lunch." He asked. Now that I thought of it, I was hungry. He'd already got some parcel from a nearby restaurant. Whatever it was, it really tasted good.

"Found anything?" I asked after finishing half of my dish.

"Yeah, lots. Richard the worker had late night shift and was about to leave the zoo when the animals gangbanged him. And there was no animal out of the cage, the locks untouched." He said.

"That's all?" I asked. It was the same thing I'd read in the newspaper.

"Nope, I found something." He fiddled with his pocket and pulled out some kind of an old looking shiny coin. It had a weird marking engraved on it.

"What's that?" I asked.

"The answer to who might be the killer. We are dealing with a nasty witch." He answered.

He explained me how witches work. Firstly, there's not just one kind of witch. Witchcraft was a popular thing in the old days. People from all over the world used to perform witchcraft. Hence, there are various types of dark arts and thus "we have a variety of bitches, oops witches."

Though their methods vary, they are always after fame or power or revenge. Some witches are extremely powerful, powerful than 100 Delroys put together and had lived through 1000s of years while some are not so great. Fortunately our's wasn't very powerful.

"What's up with the coin?" I asked.

He handed it over and asked me to look closely. It was covered with strange engravings and dry red thing - dried blood.

"It's used for hexing." He explained.

"Any idea who the witch is?" I asked.

"Nope. I went to the Sherrif's and asked him about the suspects. Then I went over to Richard's house and neighbours, his working place. Everything's clean. But there was this thing about Richard. He's a dick. He became too proud of how he took care of the animals under his supervision, after he got some award." He answered.

"Wow , finding out all this in such less time, impressive." I commented.

"Well, people blurt out anything they have in mind when the badge is shown. Being in FBI is awesome. " he chuckled.

As we had no leads, we had nothing to do. Sebastian switched on the TV while, ignoring the calls and messages which came now less frequently, I listened to some music. Maybe people might have proclaimed me dead. Before I could think about my dad and Amanda and get emotional again, I somehow controlled myself.

Then I picked up a copy of 'Fault in our Stars'. The best way to forget a reality is to enter another one. I thought it would take some time adjusting to this new lifestyle and learning about Sebastian. But surprisingly, I was quite adjusted to this nomadic lifestyle, well modern nomads whatever. And I've also learned a few things about Sebastian. But one thing kept bothering me. I wasn't the chatty type but whenever we were travelling, just for passing time, I used to tell him about my pleasant memories and about my dad, Amanda and uncle. I knew half of the time he wasn't listening and I would then stop. Instead I would ask him about himself but he would always avoided the question. I wondered what did he have against his family, what happened in his past so terrible that he would not even speak of it. Maybe he wouldn't say because we'd just met. Perhaps he'd tell me after some more time.

Then we went for dinner and came back 'home'. There was this thing about Sebastian. He always addressed motel rooms as home. Initially it didn't make any sense but now I understood. Hunters had no place to return to. In order to protect their loved ones, they had to stay away from their families. Most hunters didn't even have a family . On a longer run, it became a habit to call motel rooms as homes.

"GN" I said as I laid on my bed.

"What?" Sebastian asked while making his way to the couch.

"Dude, don't you know what GN means? What are you, a septuagenarian? Even those people use GN." I asked obviously surprised.

He looked at me with a blank expression.
"Good night!" I yelled.

He nodded, wished me back and dozed off.

Next morning, he woke me up as usual. "GM, I guess" he then wished me.

"Right" I smiled.

I took a quick shower and we left. This time we didn't check out. Hunting down a witch, an A grade mission, cannot be completed in just a day or two. Sebastian explained.

"Where are we going?"
"MI" he replied.
"Pardon me!"
"Murder investigation. Get used to it Laura. We'll frequently need that term. More frequently than GM/GN." He said.

"What murder?" I asked.

"Well, today at St. Helena's, a local school, a gymnast was killed." He said casually. I hated it when Sebastian acted as if he didn't care. I mean, sure, he had no apparent reason to care but he was still bound by humanity, the feelings of emptahy ; Sure, he had done hundreds of jobs by now. But that doesn't mean he can get used to killings. That was just insesitive. But what bothered me more was how a teen was killed.

"That's just terrible. Witches even go after teens? " I asked surprised.

"Yeah. Nasty things witches are." He replied.
We got to the school. There was already a crowd gathering around the gymnasium. If it weren't for Sebastian's badge, we would never have made it to the actual crime scene. Itnwas some kind of a magic amulet. Wherever we went, it made things easier, a lot easier. But once you got caught, like I was going to, things get pretty nasty. So don't you guys go on mocking FBI !

"This is Agent Smith and Agent Peters. We met yesterday" Sebastian said to to the Sheriff.

"Yeah, right." Sherrif said and explained the situation. Isabelle Schneider was a leading gymnast under 14. Interschool competitions were about to start and she had been practising rigorously, well until today.

"How did she die?" Sebastian asked.

"Well, the cause isn't yet determined. But maybe because of the extreme stretching.... Someone twisted her joints really bad. Only a monster would have done it." Sherrif sighed.

Sebastian urged me to stay and went in to take a look at the body. I followed him naturally. "She deserved it. How much attitude she had ! Her mind twisted with her own pride" Sebastian and I heard two girls talking. I didn't understand why people acted like this. No matter how bad a person is at behaviour, no one deserves death, well okay except the criminals and murderers. We made our way into the gymnasium.

As soon as I saw the body, my heart stopped. I wished I never had come in here. Isabelle's legs were stretched 180 degrees backwards so that her toes were sided to the back of the body, like a zombie. Her hands were torn at the shoulders and her head was tilted 360 degrees, like an owl.

"Well, I wonder what's more twisted - her mind or her body." Sebastian chuckled. "Um, sorry" he apologised after looking at my expression. Damn it! He really was insensitive. If I hadn't been petrified at this gruesome viewninswear I would have kicked his jewels real hard.

He then looked around the body. "No sign of nothing" he said after a while. Then he asked a cop where was the changing room. We went to the changing room and found a pair of clothes lying on a bag. "You take the clothes, I'll search the bag". I didn't like touching a dead gymnast's clothes but had no choice. Sebastian said this murder too had to do something with the witch as what person could do such a terrible thing. I found something in the jeans pocket. But it was a regular coin.

"Found ya shiny" he pulled out the witch's coin from the bag. It was similar to Richard's but differed in markings. Yeah, I had a sharp mind. I could point out such differences. Perhaps those markings were actually writings in the witch language. I partly suspected if I had it translated I would come up with 'Twistful Death'.

We then returned back to the Chevy. We found a few girls gathered around the school entrance. Judging from their talk, they were friends of Isabelle. Sebastian walked over to the girls and was there for a while. He enjoyed women's company I noticed.

"Well, Isabelle was really a chic around here. Top champion of last years' competitions. But she wasn't so good as a person; she was always full of herself and , well , she wasn't very honest. Last year, she paid two girls, her competitors, to loose". He told me once we were on our way back 'home'. Once we got back, we did a quick analysis of both the murders. Sebastian had found out that the school educational tour, this time, had gone to the zoo, the day when Richard died.

"I get it. The witch is going only after those who are , well were , too proud of themselves. " I said.
Sebastian nodded and took out an album. He said one of the other gymnasts gave him this. It contained a bio of everyone taking part in the coming interschool competition, including their personality.

"And how exactly would this help?" I asked.
"Look, it's certain that the witch is from the school itself. She can be a teacher, or a parent, a busdriver or the principal, anyone. One thing's certain. She hates egoistic people and is bound to find her another prey soon."

"Oh I get it. So we are finding him first before she could-"

"Twist him to death" Sebastian interrupted. We glanced through the magazine. Most of the students were non egoistic but we came across two such persons who had esteem issues- Nicole Schwimmer, a swimmer and Brad Pattinson, a weightlifter. I got up and was about to wear my FBI uniform.

"What are you doing?" Sebastian asked.

"Well, shouldn't we inform those two their lives are in danger? "

"No way! First of all, they won't believe you. And, well, they can even try to verify whether we really are from FBI. " he answered.

"So you suggest we let the witch do whatever she's upto and sit back. Wait, are you suggesting to use them as baits?" I asked truly shocked.

"No one said about using anyone. I'm just being realistic. Imagine yourself going through your normal life when someone somes in and says a witch wants you dead. Naturally you would call a mental hospital, won't you?" He had a point. But a part of me did believe he was trying to use these guys as baits.

"Fine. So what do we do?" I asked.
"We do some real FBI work. We spy" he answered. "But first let's have lunch" he continued. Earlier, when my life was normal, I liked to eat outside. But now since I've been used to the restaurant food, I no longer enjoyed it. I ate a sandwich, having not much of an appetite, while Sebastian ate a pizza. We were wearing our formal wear since it gave us certain privileges - good quality food, faster service and sometimes we could leave even without paying.

"If I tell you to go back home, you wouldn't, right?" Sebastian asked once we were back in the dusty chevy.

"Nope" I smiled.
"Fine" he grumbled. Wow, Sebastian sure was unpredictable. I mean, yeah, I hadn't had known this guy before last week. But it was time I should have understood him. Well, even today, Sebastian was the same I thought he was when I'd met him last week. Shady guy with a bad sense of humour and grandpa's style judging from his old dusty chevy and his goddamn mobile. But there was one thing about him. He was selfless. I thought he did the hunting and all just because of money maybe but he also was doing this case perhaps out of the good of his heart.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice him driving back to the motel.

"Laura, I forgot my badge upstairs. Could you please bring it?" He asked.

I was a simple minded girl. I didn't realise this was some kind of trap so I entered the motel and went upstairs where our room was. I opened the door and entered the room. I looked at the table where Sebastian had kept his badge but it wasn't there. Then I noticed I wasn't alone. Before I could move away, someone grabbed the key from my hand from behind. It was Sebastian.

"What are you doing?" I asked confused. He then quickly shut the door and locked it up. This motel we were staying at was cheap and didn't have a latched door system. So I had no way to unlock the door from inside.

"Laura, I tried asking you nicely but you won't listen. Sorry I had to do this. I'm off to Nicole, it won't take long". "How dare he lock me up?" I shouted and banged against the door but he was already gone. I tried banging it again a few times hoping some room service guy would notice. But no one turned up. Disappointed, I sat on the bed and drank some water. Then I saw a menu card lying at the dressing table. Fortunately the receptionist's telephone mumber was mentioned at the top. I took out my mobile, ignoring the logs and messages and dialled the number. I told the receptionist that I was, by mistake, locked up in my room by my husband, Mr Smith since intentional locking would invite crime-like attention. Soon a guy came to free me. I thanked him , locked the door again and I bolted out. I wondered why was I doing this. I believed Sebastian would take care of the situation but couldn't understand why I was being like this, like something else inside me wanted to do this.

I won't budge even if you lock me down. I
recalled myself telling Sebastian. Then I got a taxi to Brad's house. Again I was acting unlike me. Okay, time to rephrase it. I had changed from a well disciplined mundane wise girl to a bold stupid hunter.

Brad was my age and didn't live with his parents. He and his buddy had an apartment rented. I pressed on the doorbell half expecting Sebastian to open the door. Fortunately or unfortunately as you will see, Sebastian hadn't yet come. Brad was well fitting to his description written in that magazine. He was tall, not as tall as Sebastian was and was quite buffy. He was wearing a Tshirt and shorts.

"Hello, this Rowena Peters from FBI. I wanted to discuss Isabelle's death. You mind if I come in?" I asked. It was actually weird to act like an older woman in front of a guy my age.

"Yes. Sure, come in" he said a bit nervous.

I sat at the couch which was quite messy. The place was stinking of stale food and drinks. He noticed me looking at the room.

"Well. Sorry bout the mess. I had a party last night" he said. I nodded.

"I understand it must be hard for you to loose a close friend like Isabelle" I started.

"Actually, Isabelle wasn't exactly a friend. But yeah I do feel bad for her." Brad said honestly.

"Well, before her death, was she acting any strange." I recollected how Sebastian had asked Sara.

"Strange?" Brad asked confused.

"Like weird, anything against her character" I clarified.

"Well, she was a bit more stressed because of the upcoming competitions than the others. Defending a position is harder than it seems. But I guess it was just the stress. She was quite normal." He said.

Damn it! I was bad at this. Sebastian was right. I was asking Brad the same things we had already deciphered. Without thinking one more time, I straightaway said for what I'd come to.

"Look, Brad. You need to listen this carefully. We suspect that it's you who's next on the list. You gotta stay careful. Have you come across any shiny weird coin?" I asked him realising I was no longer speaking in my sugarcoated voice and had directly come to the point which was a big mistake.

"No. How...how can you say that? Are you suggesting that some dumb witch is up against me? Wait a minute. Can you show me your badge." One thing which should have been mentioned in his bio was that he was actually smart. Wait. How did he know that a witch was doing the hunting. Right, I got it. He was the witch, or wizard whatever. I had to get away from here and inform Sebastian. I quickly grabbed my purse but didn't quite move yet. I didn't want to let Brad notice I've found out his reality.

"Well, it got damaged so I've sent it for renewal" I said whatever came to my mind.
He picked up his mobile, dialled something and put it next to his ear while keeping an eye on me.

"Hello officer, this is Brad, could you please hurry to my house. I've got a fake FBI Agent." As soon as I heard this, I quickly ran towards the door. But he grabbed me from behind.

"You ain't going nowhere, hunter" he said with a smile. Before I could react, he punched my head and I was knocked off.

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer at Brad's but was locked up in a prison cell.