Earth

Artemis laughed when she saw what happened to Adion. She stood up and pulled the sheets around him, tucking him in. Then she turned off the tv, the lights, and got into bed. She stayed there, most of the night, awake without thinking much, but finally in the early hours of the morning, she fell asleep. She dreamt of everything and nothing at the same time. But Jack kept reappearing everywhere the dream turned until she just sat down in her dream and waited until he approached her. He never did.
Artemis slept in late. Around 12, her eyes flickered open, and she pushed he face back into her pillow for another couple minutes sleep.

Adion sat on his bed, looking at the fact that covers had been pulled over him. He had not had someone do that to him in a long time. Adion then looked out the window for a little while trying to decipher his dream. "Seek the unlikely ally. Who the hell does that mean?" Adion said to himself. Every time he tried to think of an unlikely ally, he thought of the resurrected girl. 'What help would she be? No, maybe it was the man she traveled with, Mr. Rex.' Adion thought. It was getting close to 12 and Adion was still in deep thought.

Blearily, she rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. "Coffee." She groaned. "I need it." Noting she was still in her clothes from yesterday, she headed towards the door. "Need anything, Adion?" She asked, looking over at him. The sun made her squint at him. There was still a little chocolate icing on her bottom lip, but she didn't notice. Her hair was the true definition of bed head, with tufts sticking out in every directed, but as she waited for his answer, she fought it back into a ponytail to get it out if her face.

"Hmm, oh. Something to eat would be nice, but I am not picky." Adion said in reply to Artemis's question. He looked at the clock and realized just how long he was staring at the window. He usually did not get caught up in his thoughts, but the dream last night had got him thinking. It made Adion think about the whats, the wheres, and the whys. Things that did not typically occur to him in his normal day. Something here did not add up. Something was out of place, and apparently Adion was suppose to fix it.

Sipping the dirt the vending machine produced, Artemis chastised herself. Last night was far too ridiculous. Showing her weaknesses to a near stranger? God, what a joke. It was bad enough she doubted herself in her own mind, but admitting it to him? He was a business partner, and she couldn't become fond of him. In their world, friends died too often. Better to be alone always than to be alone and grieving. And friends distracted you from the job. If you had more than yourself to protect, you were distracted. And distraction leads to your death. Who would take care of her family without her? But, she thought, he probably doesn't need my protection anyway. Yet, besides that, she forgot to change the bed sheets to her own, meaning that she'd have to get Adion to burn the hotel ones, and pay for the damages. But that simple mistake, meant that she'd have to be more vigilant with herself. No more pizza nights. No more deep talking in the middle of the night. No more fun.
She grabbed a packet of chips and some juice for Adion. She assumed she could order food in the lobby, and most likely better coffee, but she didn't want to be seen much. She returned to the room, and let herself in. She tossed the food to Adion. "Eat up. We're on the road soon. We've stayed here too long."
Taking out her laptop, she opened the software that helped her locate Resurrected. Every hunter had it, and they provided as much information as they could get. Mostly, it was got by means of torture. She ignored that fact, and used it for every hunt. She looked up the nearest Resurrected, and calculated the quickest route.
This Resurrected was a woman named Samantha Lyons. She was in Art college and visiting her family. She had parents, two little brothers, but it was uncertain whether they were human or not. It would take about twenty minutes to get there, 35 with her planned detour.
She changed clothes repacked all her things. Over her fighting gear, she wore a cute little jumper and a hairband. Just enough to make her look harmless and young, and nothing like the fighter she was. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she turned to Adion. "Will you burn my sheets please? I'll go to the lobby and pay for them. I'll see you out by the bike in ten minutes?"

Adion caught the chips and juice, which hardly lasted a minute. He watched as Artemis pulled out her laptop and searched the Hunter's Electronic Information Channels. Adion looked over at the network and saw what most would see. A a bunch of symbols that meant nothing to those who did not understand them. He could also tell Artemis was doing some heavy mental math.

Adion then heard Artemis say something about burning the sheets. Adion knew that changing sheets was a common practice and when Hunters forgot, they burned the sheets. Thus, Adion took the sheets to the back of the building, and began to burn them. From experience, Adion knew that sheets where hard to burn. This meant that he had ten minutes to make a good sized fire. He had the sheets burned in 5. It took another 2 minutes of dousing the flames to put them out. Adion then waited just out of sight of the bike, waiting for Artemis.

Artemis paid for her the sheets, blushing appropriately, as if she was ashamed to explain why they were ruined. The reception smirked at her, but otherwise took her money without incident. She took off the scratchy jumper outside and stuffed it in her bag. She climbed onto her bike and checked her laptop one last time. No updates, so all was good. She drove around back, where Adion was waiting. She raised her visor. "Grab the helmet and hop on. It won't take long to get there, but we're hunting a female Resurrected in the county over." She passed him the helmet.

"Sounds like fun. Do I get to blow anything up? Burn anything?" Adion asked. He knew that now more then ever, he needed to be sneaky. This was against the way he did things, violent and destructive. Fire, of all the things in the world, that was his favorite. Fire could be used for herding, killing, destroying, and cleaning up. The most useful tool in Adion's arsenal.

"You can burn her body when we kill her!" I shouted as I started the engine up. After that, it would be useless to try talk. I sped through the twisting country roads, slowed down for one town, and then flew the rest of the way. Finally, we were in the outskirts of the town. I slowed down, and began to speak. "It's called BrightField. Three main exits, this, one to the south, and one to the west. Population: 8310. S. Lyons lives on this side of town. We sneak in, kill her, torch the house, but give the humans a head start out. Leave through all the commotion. Less than twenty minutes. Sound easy enough?" She paused. "I assume you know how to make your fires look like accidents, right?"

"I hope they have a gas grill or oven, it's not always easy to fake electrical fires." Adion said with a small smirk. Torching the house would be fun, but he would not be able to watch the whole thing. That made him slightly saddened, but only slightly. Now he had to think of distractions. A loud pop from a gas grill would be good. Now to see if they had a gas grill. "How does an exploding gas grill sound?" Adion asked Artemis, waiting for an answer.

"Um... I don't know. I haven't heard one yet, thankfully." She motioned for him to follow her. She got off the bike and rolled it to the side of the road. "We shouldn't be seen together. Down three blocks, take a right, another block, and the third house on the left. Little white car in from of it. Her bedroom is on the second floor, facing the back garden on the right." I smiled. "We're thorough when we hunt. Now, meet me on the roof as quick as you can get there. I know all this hiding gets tiresome, but it's worth it."

Adion decided that it was time to climb. Adion did not take Artemis's directions based off the roads, but the roofs. He stumbled plenty of times, thanks to his normal on the ground with a sword style. He had finally made his way to the house, but decided to quickly scout the back yard. He made a quick but clear hand signal to alert Artemis to what he was doing. That's when Adion spotted exactly what he was looking for, a propane grill with what appeared to be a full tank. This was good. Just as fast as he had scouted the yard, Adion was on the roof's side opposite the road. "Should I start the distraction, or wait. Just remember that when I cause the distraction, they will funnel out of the house or be burned alive. I'll do my best to make the grill pop to give them time." Adion said to Artemis.

"Wait until I kill her. Then do what you can to give the rest time to leave. Make sure the fire starts upstairs, so that they can't come up and attempt to save her." She slipped into the window of the Resurrected's room and waited for her prey to enter. Artemis avoided looking around. The walls were adorned with photos if friends and family members. It would do nothing to help her if she familiarized herself with the Resurrected's life. This time, although she still had the replica, a true Hunter's sword was in her hand. The Resurrected wouldn't be expecting her, and her death would be swift. Artemis didn't ever regret killing a Reurrected, but neither did she enjoy torturing them.
Besides that one time, that is.
Finally, after a half hour of waiting, the female Resurrected came back from her scheduled jog. She spent some time downstairs chatting to her family, and then Artemis heard her tread on the stairs. But then the doorbell rang. The Resurrected paused on the stairs as her mother answered the door. I heard the murmur of another voice and then Artemis's target called out; "I'll be down in a minute!"
Artemis swore mentally. They had even less time than she anticipated. She signaled to Adion to light the house up as soon as the female entered the room. The door swung open, and the black haired female entered. The Resurrected's eyes were down turned, one earphone dangling from an ear. At first she didn't notice Artemis, but her eyes flicked towards the window when she heard the pop.
She didn't have the time to scream.
Artemis leapt forward and plunged the sword into her chest. She felt the ribs and muscle give way underneath the blade of the sword, and then slipped it out. The Resurrected fell to her knees, and looked up at Artemis with wide blue eyes. Her pale lips framed the word why, and then she fell forward without grace and died at my feet.
Her dying word didn't affect her - Artemis was used to it by now. She wiped her blade on the corpse's shirt and turned to jump out the window. She heard the scrambling downstairs, as people ran out, and one relentless wail, as the Resurrected's mother realized her daughter couldn't come down through the flames.

Adion leaned on the burning section of the house, completely invisible to anyone who wasn't a Hunter. He was able to watch this fire for the small bit of time that the flames were high enough for him to hide in them. It felt good to Adion, standing in the flames while the house burned down. Watching it all, knowing that only the most well trained detective could even tell that the small slit in the propane hose was intentional, or that the family had actually left the propane off. Adion waited for Artemis to drop from the room before saying "I'll be a bit. Meet me on the other side of town."

She nodded, and backed towards the window. Just as she was about to jump out, she heard a roar and someone burst through the bedroom door. Years of training wasn't wasted on Artemis - She drew her sword immediately, and it was at the stranger's neck with blinding speed.
It was a boy, around the Resurrected's age. He looked absolutely dumbfounded to see Artemis, and for a moment all he could do was stare at her. And then he looked down, and he saw the body.
"Sam!" He dropped to his knees next to her, and Artemis withdrew her sword. The boy shook the corpse's shoulders frantically and turned her around. All the while, he was murmuring to her, promising her he'd save her. When he saw her fatal wound, he didn't stop. Tears tracked down his face, and he held the body to his own, kissing her hair. "Don't worry Sammy, you're okay. It's all okay." Smoke began to clog up the room. Artemis looked at Adion in desperation. What was she supposed to do?

Adion walked through the rubble and up the burning stairs without a care. Once he got up to the room, he pulled one of the burning wood planks the wall was made out of and knocked the kid out in a way that made it look like he had found a dead friend. Right after that, due to some of Adion's instinct to plan for everything, the kid fell out into the yard just outside the flames. Adion then turned to Artemis. "Now all we have to do is disappear, and try and make it look like the kid hallucinated before a board fell on him." Adion said to Artemis.

Artemis nodded shakily. She climbed out the window, and up onto the roof. She would have to take a running leap into the next roof before they saw her, or there roof fell in. The closest house was to the right, opposite to the way out of the town. Artemis didn't hesitate before running, and crossing the lengthy distance. She'd climb down a house down a block, and walk back, and check on the house.
A few houses down, she noticed that no one was home, and an upper floor window was open. She slipped in and went straight to the bathroom. She washed the smoke off her face and drank her weight in tap water. After a moment's consideration, she sprayed herself with some body spray, as if it would cover up the stench of smoke that lingered in every pore on her body. She stole a normal, everyday cardigan from a closet and donned it, hiding her dark, warrior shirt. She slipped out the back door and started to walk down the sidewalk like a normal civilian. Thankfully, even a block away you could smell the smoke, so nothing about her was notable.
A black plum of smoke rose from the house. The family were outside, surrounded by horrified neighbors. The mother's unceasing cry still stood out above all else, not one bit less grief stricken or hysterical than it had been at the start. A man was holding her, but his face looked like it was about to shatter. Two little boys clung to each other, wailing, although an elderly lady was trying to sooth them, tears running down her face.
Artemis decided then and there that she hated fire.
The firemen had arrived and just began the process of killing the fire. An ambulance was there, as a Artemis saw a body on a stretcher, most probably the boy who held the Resurrected. He wasn't awake yet. Artemis mingled in between the crowd, murmuring her condolences, acting shocked that something so terrible could happen to such a good family.
She moved on, and soon, she was next to her bike, waiting for Adion. She was on edge, jiggling her leg and biting her nails.

Adion slowly slid down out of the room, walked through the bushes to the neighbors house to the left, and climbed in a window. He had left his pack on Artemis's bike, but one of the people who owned the house was his size. Thus, Adion took a nice, short shower, rushed on the stolen clothes, and walked out the back of the house.

Adion moved his way stealthily to the street. As much as Adion hated being stealthy, burning down the house was well worth it. That was something that the council would not have approved of him doing, but seeing as Artemis was good at faking being an obedient Hunter, any new council would not mind her doing it. Now one thing did go wrong for Adion. Another local Hunter, who had been blending into the local populace for a few years, spotted him. Once Adion had began to use a couple alleyways to make him look less like he was working with a friend, he felt a hard hit on the back of his neck. The feeling was impossible to mistake, it was a sword's hilt. Before Adion's assailant knew what Adion was doing, the assailant's sword was cut in half. Before the other Hunter could get past the fact that his sword was just chopped in half, he was in half.

Adion then went about continuing his journey to Artemis. Once he had finally reached her, Adion said "Sorry to take so long. I took a shower and got attacked. By the way, why are you looking so damn jumpy?" Adion then put the helmet that he used on and got on the back of the bike.

"You got attacked?" She exclaimed. "Who attacked you? A human? Or something more serious?" She looked him over - He seemed unharmed. "Either way, you took care of them." It was a statement, not a question. Although she did wonder if he cleaned up after himself. Dead body, and hysterical boy claiming a girl with a sword killed his girlfriend equaled problems. And the Council would look into the Hunter's murder, and they might just come to conclusions. It was Adion's signature, but the boy would insist his attacker had a partner who came up from behind. The humans mightn't believe him, but the Council listened to those sorts of stories. She climbed on the bike next to him.

"It was some foolish Hunter. He had spent too much time with the humans, or there is a take alive order out on me. Both end in him making the foolish mistake of smacking me with his sword's hilt. And as you can easily tell, that was his last mistake. Hopefully, who ever takes over the council has the sense to get this one idea. 'Those who fuck with Adion Volf tend to cease to exist.'" Adion said. His voice did not sound careless, arrogant, or overconfident, but it did not sound afraid either. It sounded alert and monotone. Now Adion wanted to know what was going on with the council for once in his life. This whole thought was new to him, and it made him a little worried about where his life was going and what would end up happening to him.