Old Friends and New Hunters

Chapter One: Old Friends In Trouble

Michael sat at his computer going over the e-mail that had been sent to him from Italy. His mind was still reeling from the information that Father Juliano had given him. It had been 20 years since they had heard about Robin or Amon and now he was getting mail from Robin’s grandfather. He had been up all night trying to make sense in his head about what happened; he had always been hoping to hear from his former friends and co-workers, but he did not expect this.  

As Dojima walked into the office, too early for her taste, she was met by Sakaki’s worried face. She rubbed her eyes and walked past him only to see Miho and Michael walking into the meeting room looking as if they had seen Death itself. This confused her, but she was too tired to really care; it was probably some hunt for some supposedly dangerous witch that was really just some jerk on a power trip.

“OK, would someone please tell what the sad faces are about?” she whined, stomping her foot and tossing her purse into her chair. She plopped down and crossed her arms like a spoiled brat.

Miho let out a long sigh, “Michal got an e-mail from Robin’s grandfather. We might need to help them.” She looked ragged. They had not looked this bad since the STN had gotten attacked so long ago. Since then they had gotten two replacements for Robin and Amon. The original team waited for them to arrive. The young girl they had gotten to replace Robin had only lasted for about a year before she decided that she could not deal with the job of hunting her own kind. A young man had taken her place; his name is Jake. He’s American, and has the typical attitude of one: cocky, arrogant and horny, but he is funny and a great hunter. The girl they had gotten to replace Amon was Sierra. She is the Italian version of Jake; they are two of a kind and work perfectly together. They had become a couple shortly after they were paired as partners.

Once the two arrived, together as usual, they all piled into the meeting room and took their seats. Michael took a place at the head of the table with all the tech stuff. He put in some data and stood up to address the room. “I got an E-mail late last night from Father Juliano.  Most of you remember him from 20 years ago when he came here to speak with Robin about her history, telling her that they were related through her mother who was his daughter. I know this is news to you, Jake and Sierra; I have sent you the information on what happened all those years ago.”  

The two took a few minutes to go over the information. “So you all took on the Factory all by yourselves? How brave of you,” Sierra put in after finishing her report, Jake was simply speechless with wonder. “Truly awesome guys,” he said after a moment.

After the short pause, Michael continued, “The E-mail I received from the Father told me that Robin and Amon have been living in Tuscany for the past 15 years, but, apparently they were hunted and caught about 2 months ago along with their, ahem, 4 children.” Dojima’s jaw dropped and she made a fainting gesture. “Their names are Dahlia, Kate, Sara, and Dominic.”

“Dahlia is a fire starter like Robin,” The girl that popped up on the screen was a pretty girl about the age of 19 with long blonde hair and dark gray eyes. She had a dark bruise on her left cheek, and by the look of all the children they had not gone down without a fight.

“Kate is a shape-shifter like Amon is.  Yes, Amon awakened and is a shape shifter,” The next girl was about 18 with long black hair and stunning green eyes. She had a nose piercing and 4 piercings in each ear; she was sticking her tongue out to show off her stud, and was flashing a “Rock on” sign with her hands. She was also sporting a bruise and a cut above her left eye.

“Sara is a powerful psychic and telekinetic. She is also blind. The doctors told robin that it was due to her power, she can see visions and what people are thinking, but she cannot see normally” The next girl was about15, mousey and sweet looking, She was blonde and looked like Robin when she first came to work at the STN-J. She looked surprisingly untouched by the fight.

“And last is Dominic, who has a long list of what doctors call deformities, but really they are just parts of his ‘power’. I apologize if a few of these images are kind of disturbing.” The Next boy looked about 15 as well and looked fine in the mug shot; long black hair, dark sad looking eyes, almost too skinny. He had the worst bruises and scratches of them all; it looked like he had taken the brunt of an attack. But then Michael flipped to a screen of men in white coats holding the boy’s mouth open to display a set of very sharp, jagged teeth that looked like they belonged on a piranha. The next image was the men holding Dominic down on his stomach and holding large bat like wings that were coming out of his back. Then there were images of the men testing the strength of Dominic’s fingernails that seemed to be hard as stone. Next they were showing his legs that looked monster-like, almost like cat legs without fur, with dew claws half-way up his calves, extremely bent knees and large thighs made for jumping.

“He is kept in restraints at all times, because Sara is the only person that has any control over him, even Robin lacks any control over her youngest child. He has been known to become violent when anyone comes near his twin sister. Oh, yes, Sara and Dominic are twins. They are viciously protective of each other. When the Tuscan STN were capturing them, these two managed to kill at least 10 each before they were brought down.”

Dojima could not keep her jaw from dropping as Michael presented these facts to them. He didn’t go into much detail about Robin and Amon; from the looks of them they had barely changed at all - a few extra lines on their faces, and Robin had the look of a nurturing mother. Dojima couldn’t help but wonder how this could happen. They had spent years searching for Robin and Amon and found nothing, but the Italian STN had been able to not only find them but to capture them as well. Unable to keep her mouth shut, she had to ask “How did this happen? I mean Amon was the best hunter there was, and Robin is one of the most powerful witches there is, and their kids sound like they can hold their own. How did they get caught?”

“You guess is as good as mine. All I know is what Father Julliano told me and what I have found from the Italian STN’s data. Apparently the capture took place in the early hours of the morning, so my guess is that they were caught off guard.” Michael looked sad. He had always had a crush on Robin and now that he knew that she was really with Amon and had kids it was almost a closure on that part of his worry. Now he had a new worry: how to get them out of there. He had been thinking all morning, trying to come up with a plan. He hoped telling the rest of the team might fill in some of the holes.

“All right. Now, I have been thinking all morning trying to come up with a plan. I’ll tell you what I have so far, and you tell me what you think, and give insight on what you think needs work. At the end of the month, a few days from now, we are required to send in a list of all witches captured in the past month to HQ. Each STN is sent that list as well, so that some fleeing witches can be returned to the place where they have committed the most crimes or their birthplace, depending on how bad one STN wants them. When that happens, I will send in a request for Robin, Amon and the kids since Robin and Amon have committed the most crimes here. I will also ask for the children to be prosecuted in the same place as their parents, hoping that the kids would be more compliant if they are kept together. Hopefully they will agree and we will then go to Italy to get them, or they will be sent here. But that is the plan in a nutshell, any insight?”  

“Why haven’t you noticed them before if they are supposed to be on the lists,” Sierra asked after a moment of thought?

“They haven’t been on them. I have looked over reports from the past year and there is nothing. I don’t know why, it might be that the Italian STN wants to keep them a secret that will become more clear at the end of the month; it also could be that the Italian process is slightly different, they might keep a witch for a little while before putting them on the list for danger issues. If that is the case then Sara, Dominic, and Kate won’t be on the list since they are the most violent,” Michael put in. “The real problem would be if we are denied custody, if that happens then we will have to come up with another plan to get them out if there by force.”