Hunting The Hunter

This is a tale of my encounters with some less than fortunate chaps that happen to suck me into their endeavors with some, let’s say above average prey, but I get ahead of myself I have yet to properly introduce myself, my name is Edward D. Withers; I am a hunter by trade and an Englishman at heart. I was born and raised in England, but my occupation allowed me to travel to much more extravagant places, places such as the Bahamas, South Africa, and America. Yes I have traveled all across the world and I have hunted many kinds of animals, hell I’ve even discovered a few, but none of that could have prepared me for what I am about to tell you.

 I came to London about two weeks ago; I was taking a holiday from my work. London is such a beautiful place; there are so many extravagant places to go and so many things to do a person can get lost in a matter of hours. This however was not the case for me; I seemed to have gotten lost in a matter of minutes and was enjoying every second of it. However after a few hours the sun was starting to set and the city of London had taken a more ominous and eerie tone. I started to make my way in the direction of where I thought my hotel was when I was approached by a man.

 This man wore a peculiar red bowler hat, the rest of his body was covered in a black cape, I couldn’t even make out his face, and all I could see was his blue eyes. He came to me and spoke with a very unusual lisp. He asked my name and my businesses I told him and extended my hand, he did not take it instead he went on to say that London was a very dangerous place at night and that I should be getting home. I taking a little offence to his statement and told him of my occupation, I stated that I had hunted all forms of animals and that I could certainly handle any enemy that was thrown my way. This made the man chuckle, this however only made me more agitated, and he went on to say that he needed someone with skills such as mine to help him kill a certain beast. I respectfully declined and bid him good day. He grabbed my arm rather tightly and said I had no choice in the matter and that the hunt was on. He put a piece of paper in my hand and told me that it would be in my greatest interest to go home. I snatched my arm away and made my way to my hotel.

 As soon as I got inside I slipped of my clothes and began to run a bath. I had gotten some bath salts from a very polite vender and was going to put them to good use. I got in the tub the hot water soaking my skin, it felt marvelous. I began to reflect on the day and all I had discovered, but after a while I began to think about that man in the red bowler hat. What a peculiar character he had been, what did he mean the hunt was on and that I had no choice in the matter. I looked towards the paper he had given me; it was resting on the pile of clothes I taken of previous. I grabbed it and read its contents:

 To The Hunted,

   My name isn’t important, but the knowledge I am about to bestow on you is of the most vital importance. Right know you are being hunted and the longer you stay in one place the more your life is at stake. Now to insure your safety you must follow these instructions to the letter, DO NOT DEVIATE, for if you do the consequence is death or a fate far worse.

 Put on your hunting gear and have your weapons at the ready if you’re lucky you may not need them, but most aren’t lucky. After you have done this go outside and go straight for one block, then take a left and go down that street until you get to the second ally way, go into that ally way, and wait.

 Gods speed.

 After I read this I got up and threw the paper away, there was no way I was going to follow those ludicrous instructions. I got in my night ware and proceeded to go to bed, but just as I started to drift off into a deep slumber the window in my apartment burst and a black figure came crashing through. I quickly grabbed the knife I keep under my pillow and lounged at the beast, it dodged and swiped at my back I couldn’t feel the pain, but blood was gushing everywhere. At first I thought it was just me, I was sure the beast had made contact with me, but I soon found out that we both were bleeding. I began to feel weak and started to look for an exit the beast blocked the door and the only other exit was the window. The beast prepared to strike again, but before it could I jumped out of the window, the drop from a second story window wasn’t really that bad, and I didn’t break any bones, hell it didn’t even hurt. I guess it was because of all the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I looked up and saw that the beast was about to jump down as well, persistent I give it that. I ran and before I knew it I was following the directions on the paper. I came to the ally way and ran in, by this time I was unaware if the beast had followed me or not, but if it did I would have had anywhere to run, the ally was a dead end.

 After a few moments I caught my breath and fell backwards, this was very confusing because I was leaning my back on a brick wall. I fell down a few steps and blacked out. I awoke to find myself in a bed with fresh bandages for my wounds and clean clothes on. To say the least I was confused, looked around and saw that I was not alone in the room, the man with the bowler hat sat beside me, his face still covered in that cape. The man was reading the paper and looked down at me, noticing that I was awake he folded up the paper and put it down.

 “You didn’t follow the instructions,” he said.

 “What the hell is this, where am I?!” I demanded.

 “You are in a bed,” the man said.

 “That’s not what I meant,” I said angrily.

 “Then what did you mean?” he asked.

 “You know damn well what I meant,” I said even more furious.

 “How do you know what I know?” the man further questioned.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Realizing that the man was having a laugh I decided to play along, I became eager to beat him at his own game.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Well I can tell you what I Know you know,” I said.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Oh, do tell,” the man said.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I know you know me and what I do, I know you know the residence of where we both reside, I also know that you were following, I know that you know I was attacked, and I know that you know what attacked me,” I said with a smirk on my face.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Indeed I know all of this and more, I know that beast will come back for you, I know what it will do to you when, and I do mean when, it catches you. I also know that if you go back out there you will die, and I know that I am your only hope of survival.” This made me cringe, the way in which he made his statement; the absoluteness dread, and pity in his voice wiped the smirk of my face.

<p class="MsoNormal"> He got up and I followed, we came to the room much like the one we were previously in, brown walls, but this room had chairs instead of a bed. The man placed a lantern on the ground and sat in one of the chairs and moved himself right in front of the other chair, he then motioned me to sit, and I obliged him. We sat and stared at each other in the dim light for what seemed like hours until he spoke.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “We help people that are being hunted by those things. Most people deny its existence but I don’t, we hunt these things down. They have many names Lycan, silver dogs, werewolves, you are being hunted by this beast and you cannot escape. The only thing you can do now is attempt retaliation. Now I am going to be frank, you will probably die in the next few days, most usually do. I will tell you its weaknesses and strengths, I will equip you with the correct weapons, and I will hope you don’t die.” He said in a calm tone, I nod.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Now I know you have many questions, like who is this we I keep referring to, why am I helping you, why is this beast hunting me, and why should you trust me. I cannot answer any of these questions, all I can say is if you don’t want my help, then leave.” He pointed to a door I had not noticed when I entered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> I decided that I would trust this man for now; besides what other choice did I had in the matter. I was being hunted by a mythical creature for whatever reason and all I had in my defense was a strange man who seemingly had all the answers.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I will accept your help.” I said.

<p class="MsoNormal"> He went on to tell me all that I needed to know, not once did I interrupt or even ask a question, I just sat and tried to retain all the information that was being told to me. After he was done he got up and motion for me to follow. He brought me to a room filled with an almost unreal amount of armor and weapons; there were crossbows, staffs, and an abundance of swords.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Have at it.” He said.

<p class="MsoNormal"> I picked up some light armor, a pair of silver daggers, and a long bow, with some poison tipped arrows. I showed him the daggers and he backed away.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Watch what you are doing!!!” he shouted.

<p class="MsoNormal"> I backed away, he walked me out of the encampment we were in and soon we were back at the ally.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I bid you good day.” The main said as he went back into the encampment.

<p class="MsoNormal"> I was on my own and honestly I was afraid. I started to make my way back to the hotel when I heard something behind me, I turned quickly bow at the ready. I was now face to face with the beast. In the pale moonlight I could see the beast more clearly; it had black fur and claws the size of daggers. Its face was that of a wolf, nose wet, and teeth showing, it had blue eyes. It stood on two feet and was about to charge me, I shot an arrow at the beasts right eye and it recoiled, I rushed it, daggers at the ready and determination in my eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal"> My name is Reginald G. Withers; I came to London in search of my brother who had been missing for a few months. About a few weeks into my search I was approached by a peculiar man, he told me that I was being hunted and that I was in grave danger. He gave me some instructions on a piece of paper; I just shrugged it off as some drunk talking out of his ass. Although the man didn’t seem drunk, hell he even was pretty well dressed. He wore a red bowler hat; a black cape that covered his face, all I could make out was his eye. He only had one; the other had an eye patch over it.