"I don't care about this job anymore. All I want to know is how to get back." I was trying to quit smoking, but being here made me fiend for nicotine. No matter how furious I inhaled the smoke didn't burn my lungs.

A curse. Or a gift. It depends on who you talk to.

Cavanaugh was a real bastard. He knew what I was. Who I was. He knew my situation too. But that didn't stop his madedening kind smile. "You know you can't leave just yet Jo. The job isn't done. You've followed him here, now its time to find out all you can and eliminate the threat." He was fat around the middle, with a bad grey combover. From the smile lines in his face, and the small twinkle in his blue eyes, anyone could have mistaken him for the cookie cutter image of the All-American grandfather. I hated him and every Freemason just like him.

"You know what I left behind." I purposely blew a large cloud of smoke into his face. "You know what I'm capable of too." I knew the threat was empty.

He readjusted his seat on the barstool, that sickeningly gentle smile for me never left his face. I hated when they treated me like this. "Now Jo, the Masons understand perfectly what it is you left on Earth. We're taking care of it for you. You know this already."

"Yes I know this! But.." The cigarette fell from my mouth to the floor. I grabbed the old man by his lapels and lifted him from his stool. "I. WANT. TO. GO. BACK!" I shook him with each word. The crowd stared in horror as I shook this geriatric. But I set him down proper like and fixed his shirt. After a few glares from both of us people began to mind their own business again.

Cavanaugh seemed unfazed. God, him and those like him seemed to delight in driving me nuts. "Finish the job Jo. When you're done here you can go home. Then you can ask the Priests if it's time for you to retire yet." He stood from his stool and paid our tab. "The quicker you get it done, the quicker we can both go home. I'll be in touch."

Night or day. It didn't matter here.

The freaks were always out.

My target would have been easy to root out back home. Follow the yellow-asphalt road to the Undead Underworld, ask a couple questions, throw around a couple threats, and you'll find your target.

This place was a lot different.

Nearly all the places I first went looking for information laughed me out the door.

Oh I tried my usual tactic. Believe me.

Furtively I'd skulk, becoming a wall fixture, slipping the bartender a little extra tip everytime they brought me a drink. When I finally thought I had gained their trust enough to ask them if they knew any vamps, they'd look at me as if I had a third eye. In my line of work this wasn't exactly an infrequent reaction.

But here? The reason for the reaction was different. I didn't catch wind until one massive, bowling ball of a man shook his head at me from behind his bar. "Who doesn't? Where do ya think ya are?" He wiped off a section of the bar with a towel that had never seen a wash. "Stupid newbies." He muttered to himself.

Apparently, trying to find Sipen in this place was going to be like finding a vegan at a gun show.

"You gotta change your MO, Jo." Cavanaugh had a habit of teaching through trial and monumental failure. "I know you can smell 'em. And sense 'em. But is that going to help you here?"

I ground my teeth and fantasized extinguishing my cigarette in his shiny forehead. He was actually waiting for me to answer. With every ounce of effort I possessed I ashed my cigarette in the tray. "No."

"Look around. You've been here a few days. They all walk around in the open. It's not like Earth at all. So just how are you going to find one vamp in a world full of them?."

I moved to inhale, the cigarette between my fingers held just before my lips. Cavanaugh looked at me expectantly. "The vamps here can't be too much different from the ones back home."I said just before the sweet rush of carcinogens filled my lungs.

Cavanaugh nodded. "A leopard never changes its spots." The man was a walking cliche. That tired one earned him a full stream of second hand smoke to the face. The fit of coughing that resulted made me smile.

"So if thats the case then, they all have their hands in each others pockets, regardless of what might seem like a lack in affiliation." I pushed the orange tip of my cigarette hard into the glass ash tray. It wasn't nearly as gratifying.

"Which means if I'm going to find one vamp amongst many, I'm going to need a vamp for a friend."

Cavanaugh was waiting across town. I was going to be late for our nightly meet-up. As soon as the night air hit my face I made sure to take my sweet time walking. No doubt he'd be waiting for me with that patient smile on his gentle face. It was typical of the 'Masons, every last one of them treated me like I was their grandson.

For centuries people speculated about the Freemasons. I was the only one not part of the Brotherhood who knew the truth. The 'Masons were the only thing protecting you and your mini-van from the ugly things that go bump in the night. It was a side of the world that you only watched on TV or in the movies. Even all the "fiction" written. It's all controlled by the 'Masons. An easy way to make it seem less believable.

I don't know how Cavanaugh managed to walk without a cane. He was short and round with a bad comb-over and looked older than your average member of the AARP. He didn't flinch or change the expression on his face. He just smiled at me like I was a poor misled child. It wouldn't take much to send him into the icy waters of the sea.

"I knew you'd be late." I flicked the shortened nub of my cigarette at him. I don't know if my aim was off or he moved out of the way. Most likely the latter.

I lit another and took a puff. Cavanaugh moved and pulled out a phone that looked more like a brick.

"What do you want me to do with that?" I was more than skeptic as he held it out and gestured for me to take it. "You know we get no signal here." I snatched it out of his hands and hefted the relic to my ear.

"Jo?"

Wait-a-minute.

"Jo, is that you?"

The cigarette fell from my slack jaw.

Cavanaugh's smile brightened. It was the first time I didn't want to smash my fist through his dentures in a long while.

I readjusted the collar to my trenchcloak to regain my composure.

"Hello doll."

"I haven't gotten an e-mail, an IM, nothing. Where are you?"

"Far away doll. Real far away."

"I miss you."

"I know doll, I miss you too. How are you feeling? How's the.." I couldn't force the words from my lips if I wanted to.

"I feel fine. The doctors say the baby is fine. I had an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy. My OB says its coming along just as expected."

"That's..that's great. Are they taking good care of you? Do I need to get them to give you more of a living allowance for the baby?"

"I've got everything I need. But I thought of a theme for the baby room to work on while you were gone."

"Baseball? Hendrix? Old time gum-shoes?" It was just a few themes based on my favorite things I could think of off the top of my head.

She laughed and everything seemed right with the world again.

"No, silly. Arabian Nights."

I was smiling like an idiot no doubt. Cavanaugh tapped at his wrist watch. I nodded.

"I don't know how much longer I can maintain this connection doll. But I love it. I love the theme. I love you."

"I love you too Jo. Be safe, okay? Be very safe. The baby needs you to be safe."

"I will doll."

The call ended.

I didn't have the heart to tell her there was no safe in this place.

Not with what I do.

2 months later...

I don't know why, but the winter never seemed to go away here. It was still cold, even in April. I didn't mind. It just meant I could wear my coat everywhere without being looked at oddly. And underneath, Ole Faithful never left my side. She was the only back-up I'd ever need.

Cavanaugh was being stingy with the Zach Morris phone. Every time I asked I got the same answer. "I can't initiate the connection without the permission of the Priests, Jo." He wore that gentle smile on his face like he was trying to make it all seem right even though he was driving me nuts to be cut off from her. I knew what that meant. It meant that I couldn't dial out. I'd have to wait till the Priests deemed me worthy of receiving another phone call from her.

I doubt she wanted to speak to me. We were getting close to the 18th week, and the last time we talked a month ago hadn't gone so well.

"Jo?" Her voice was anxious, bordering on upset.

"What's wrong doll? I'm here. I'm fine. Ya know the Blessing keeps me from getting hurt."

"It's not that Jo. The 'Masons are scaring me. They know I don't like what you do. Yet they aren't afraid to talk about it in front of me. They're not afraid to talk about how the Hunter is chosen."

"&%$@." I whispered underneath my breath. I should have told her more about this whole ordeal. I should have told her that most times the Blessing was passed down through the bloodline. Preferably from father to son. I hefted the phone to my other ear. "I'm sorry doll. I should have told you sooner. I..I just wanted a normal life for once." I couldn't help but be honest with her.

"Why couldn't you have just let me remain ignorant Jo?" I could hear the hurt in her voice. The tears. "Now I live every day in fear that the things you kill will come after me and our child. Or that they will figure out a way to finally kill you. I don't want this for our child Jo. I don't want my child to have to see the life you've lived."

I couldn't blame her. When my mom found out she took me, packed up, and left my father in Sacramento. We spent years trying to find a town small enough that the 'Masons didn't exist. When she figured out how impossible that was, she just up and moved every summer. It was a tour of the U.S. I didn't want as a kid. But dad reached the age of retirement, and the "Blessing" passed to me when I struck out on my own in my early twenties. I couldn't exactly get the life of a nomad out of my system. Cavanaugh found me during a jaunt in Baltimore. Seven years later and I couldn't shake him.

"I know doll." It was all I could say. She had every right to be upset. "I don't want it for the baby either."

Cavanaugh had always sold me on the idea that we were making the world a better place. That's why I lived this life. Still moving from town to town, risking my neck, hiding from the sun, hunting nightmares that no one else on Earth believed were real. To make the world a better place.

"I...I don't know. I love you Jochin. But I don't love your life." Remembering this next part feels like a sledge hammer to the aorta to this day. "Even if I leave you, if it's a boy he can still be dragged into this mess when he comes of age. I..I don't know what I'm going to do if it's a boy..."

All I could do was nod. I doubt she could hear it.

"I..I have to go." The call ended.

In the end, why was I completely unable to make my world a better place?

Before I knew what was happening he was on me. A high pitched noise left the gaping maw that was his mouth. One of the ?gifts? I'd received during the Blessing was very sharp hearing amongst other enhanced senses. That noise was making me wish I could turn it off. He was giving me one hell of a headache. It wasn't getting easy to move either.

Disoriented, I fell to the road with my fingers wrapped tight around his wrists. When I squeezed and tried to break the bones, all I felt was a slithering wet mass of tentacles beneath my fingers. What the #$*! was this guy? Those same tentacles, each one tipped with a jagged set of teeth at the end, slithered out of his mouth and towards my eyes

My eyes! Hadn't he mentioned something about wanting them? I couldn't remember with my vision swimming the way it was.

Focus Jo.

Focus.

The Blessing amplified the noise he was making and made it hard to think. But it also gave me strength enough to pull this guy limb from disgusting limb. I clamped an iron grip down on the tentacles caught in my fingers and ripped outwards. The satisfying feeling and sound that resulted did nothing to stop him. In fact when I looked at what little damaged I had caused, only more tentacles replaced the ones I'd ripped out. I could feel the teeth that tipped each one dig into my clothes and my skin. They cut into my forehead and cheeks, creating a ring around each one of my eyes. I couldn't see anything but this guy's disgusting insides, and I felt a sucking pressure as the teeth began to dig deeper into my face and skull.

This was it. Jochin Nagadari. Killed by something out of japanimation porn.

What happened next was a blur. My vision was filled with blood and I was fading fast, but I still felt each razor sharp tip wrenched from my skin. I went to cry out in pain but I couldn't make a noise. It only took a few seconds before the Blessing kicked in. My wounds sealed themselves and the pain was gone in a matter of moments.

When I turned to see who had come to my rescue, all I could see was Hugh, knee deep in a mass of nondescript black tentacles. His face had changed drastically to accommodate rows of big, sharp teeth. Long, claw like nails tipped each of his fingers. He was working fast and furious. Ripping tentacles out. Clawing at the creature. All the while burying his face inside the the now writhing mass of tentacles.

My pack was still in tact. I took a cig out and lit it, taking a long drag while I watched Hugh methodically devour this freak. When he was done he stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of one of his gnarled hands. Nothing was left aside from a wide brimmed hat.

Hugh's face returned to normal and he stroked that long white beard as if in deep thought. ?You should watch out.? He told me in that grating voice while shaking his head at me. I was covered in that thing's saliva and my blood. ?You never know what you'll meet up with on the streets out here.?

I shook my head at him. He was covered in the creature's saliva and black blood. ?I never knew you had a taste for calamari Hugh. You shoulda told me sooner.?

I don't know why I felt the need to press the ?END? button.

It seemed fitting.

I placed the phone back in Cavanaugh's hand and started to walk no where in particular.

The old man actually had the gumption to scramble after me.

?Now wait Jo, don't go do anything stupid.?

?Stupid is my middle name Cavs. Because I'm still workin' for you.?

He blanched visibly. That implied threat always made the 'Masons wet their Depends a little. Things got mighty complicated when the Hunter decided not to follow the rules. ?This wasn't your fault Jo.?

I rounded on him. ?What wasn't my fault?? I took a cigarette out and lit it. ?You tell me smart guy.?

?What just happened.?

I shook the cigarette in his direction like it was a loaded gun. ?And how would you or anyone else know what just happened? You tap the magic phone?? I shook my head and took another drag. ?Don't answer that. Tapping the magic phone is probably the least of things you guys did to ruin this.?

He stepped toward me shaking his head and put his hand on my shoulder. ?She just couldn't handle it. Couldn't handle the responsibility.? He was taking that grandfatherly tone with me again.

I wanted to snap his arm in two. It was too bad the 'Masons were the only creatures in existence I couldn't do serious harm to. The moment I intended to do anything more than simply threaten him, I'd lose my Hunter strength until I calmed down again. Not like I was anything to laugh about without it.

I stepped out from his grasp, just enough to retaliate with a full stream of smoke to his face. ?Don't give me that line of crap Cavs. Not everyone lives in our world. Not everyone is ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the greater good. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice a normal life for the crazy ^&%$ we do.?

?We tried to stop her.?

?You...what?? I would have dropped the cigarette from my mouth if my fingers weren't secured around the butt.

?We tried to stop her. She left and they didn't really think anything of it. We thought that maybe finding out the sex would have changed her mind.?

I held up a hand to silence him.

?You knew where she was this whole time? You knew the sex of my child before I did and you never told me??

Cavanaugh didn't answer my questions. He had a habit of dodging them. ?We tried to stop her Jo. We tried to tell her the importance of the bloodline. We tried to tell her that the Blessing would protect your son.?

My son.

?By the time we realized she was gone it was too late. She slipped out of our sight and went to the clinic before we could do anything.?

?What do you mean by the time you realized she was gone? What do you mean she slipped out of your sight? You were keeping her prisoner in her own home?!? I took a step closer to him. At my normal strength I'd still put a huge dent in his face. ?You were having her watched?!?

?You gotta realize just how much danger she's in having your child. Sipen's cronies would've done anything to get their hands on her and that baby. They would have done anything to make sure the Hunter's bloodline doesn't survive. If not Sipen then Majidi, Han, Dhondeh, Ockmaul.? He rattled off a list of big baddies that were constantly on the radar.

I still couldn't get over my betrayal. ?All I wanted was a normal life. That's all I ever asked for.? I sucked so hard on the filter the tip almost erupted into flame. ?But you guys had to keep putting the thought of the boogeymen into her head. You had to show her that no matter what we would never live a normal life. Didn't you??

?You're the Hunter, Jo. You're never going to live a normal life. We couldn't have a repeat of what happened with your mom. Don't you remember how long it took us to fix the mess in the interim of your father retiring and me tracking you down and getting you trained??

In that interim the Suckers had managed to get their sock-puppets into power in the U.S. and abroad. It took us 4 years to get them out.

?You couldn't at least give her the opportunity to get used to it?? I knew the question was just as ridiculous as it sounded.

?If she wasn't used to it by now, she never would have been.? Cavanaugh was right.

But I wouldn't admit it.

I turned again and started to walk off. ?Since it doesn't exactly matter when I get back now I'm going on a vacation. Stay outta my way.?

He was smart enough to follow my advice.

If I was normal it would've been the blue Mohawk that caught my eye first.

But I'm not.

And it wasn't.

It was her eyes.

It was her eyes that caught me off guard.

I spoke silent prayers when she asked to bum a cig. Sure, I'd lived most of my life having no problem talking to, or finding an excuse to strike up a conversation with a stunning girl like her. But something sacred touched me that moment she spoke to me.

It took a lot more courage than I could ever have to rock a blue Mohawk like she did. Unfortunately I was the first one to give her the "Welcome to Rhy'Din, that thing you just stepped in was actually two creatures you've never encountered before copulating." speech. It took even more to sit there and listen to me tell her that the place we'd both called home before we came here wasn't too different behind the curtain. She took the news better than most.

I doubted she weighed more than my trench coat. But she still went out the next day and played her set in the Marketplace even with the knowledge that she was just a normal girl in a world full of the abnormally powerful.

Fortunately she hadn't seen me from where I was standing. Far enough away not to be noticed, but close enough to hear her perform. It wasn't like she had anything to be afraid of.

She was good.

Damn good.

I must've spent hours standing on that corner listening. Watching. Trying not to be noticed. I'd planned on telling her I was on "official business" if she saw me.

Granted a lot of the time I'd spent watching and listening was trying to convince the beggars who passed me by to drop a few Dragons into her open guitar case. Most just gave me a strange look, wondered why I wouldn't do it myself, and then pocketed all the coins. I finally found one drunk who was wasted enough to agree, and instead he dropped all the silvers I'd given him into her case. I listened close to make sure he didn't say anything disrespectful. I'd planned on making him eat the rest of the coins in my pocket if he did.

It took a ton of guts to be that open in front of any old stranger on the street. To go out day after day and perform music for those who passed by.

I admired her courage.

Actually, I still do.

?Sup Chuck?? Without thinking I reached out and gave him pounds.

God dammit. He did this to me every time. Especially after I discovered what I was, what he was, and that we were mortal enemies. It was an instinctual reaction after working so many nights patrolling the docks, and sharing so many beers with him. Always after the sun went down though. I hadn?t noticed the pattern until Cavanaugh and the ?Masons sent me on this goose chase.

?Fuck that noise.? I said and the Suckers around me seemed to tense. ?You know why I?m here Chuck.?

?I know.? He turned and sipped uselessly on a large glass of beer. Most likely Corona. He never drank anything else. ?I was hoping I could change your mind though. Word from the streets is you?ve got a vamp homey working with ya. Now you see what I meant when I told ya not all of us were bad.?

?S?too bad I know the truth about you though Chuck.? I reached into my coat and it caused the rest of the Suckers around me to reach into their own. I pulled out a cigarette and lit it. That didn?t seem to ease Sipen?s cronies at all.

?Yeah, it is too bad. I was hoping to drop the knowledge on ya when you came here. But I guess you can only see things in black and white.?

?You should know me better n? that Chuck. Particularly cause I ain?t exactly white myself.?

?Then why?re you here shoutin? beef from the rooftops? Ya never noticed how all the ?Masons ain?t exactly ethnic? You?re their pet Arab vampire killer Jo. Your whole family has always been.?

What Chuck said made sense. The ?Masons was a fraternity of old white grandpas. The only members with any drop of ethnicity in them always the Hunter. And in the end, we weren?t officially members anyway. It made me take a long, long drag on my cigarette in thought.

?You?re right. But that still don?t make a difference in the end. You?re killing people. Innocent people. A lot of them. It?s not even like you only choose to feed off the evil Chuck. You and your gang. It?s all about power. It?s gotta end.? I dropped my cigarette into the tray and reached into my coat, pulled Ole? Faithful free and lifted her out in front of me.

Chuck clobbered me before I even knew what hit me. He had one hell of a left hook. Blessing or no Blessing, I fell off my stool and the masses converged on me.

?I don?t want him dead.? I could hear Chuck saying as the beating I was getting from his cronies had its intended affect and consciousness slipped through my fingers.