07-19-2023, 10:28 AM
Just Another Dead Monster
2039
"Nox!" Aurora shouted. "Come on, I gotta pee before we go. Get outta the bathroom! Uncle Jake ain't gonna like us being late cause you can't get your hair perfect!" Aurora kicked the door. "Come on, Mom said you have to stop taking so long." Aurora sighed. "Dad's coming!"
The door popped open and Aurora laughed as she pushed through and slammed the door on his ass. "Bitch!" Nox shouted.
Aurora laughed. "Slut!"
Nox rolled his eyes as he ran his fingers through his hair to finish combing it. "That's a low blow."
Aurora came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth. "Come on!" She pushed him out of the way and he grabbed her arms and they tumbled to the floor.
"Jerk!" Aurora laughed, "You made me swallow."
"You should be pretty good at that." Nox said with a laugh.
"You are so gross." Aurora said pushing off and getting off the floor and hurrying through the rest of her morning ritual. "You get ready like a girl."
Nox laughed. "I only do it to piss you off." He said as he grabbed his bag. They were going to spend the weekend with Uncle Jake. Their mother and father were going on a second honeymoon. Or at least that's what they were calling staying in the hotel for the next three days without kids around. They'd be fucking like rabbits like always and Nox was more than happy to be gone.
Aurora not so much. Not that she liked listening to the bunny humping, she didn't like spending time with Uncle Jake, his words of wisdom bugged her to hell and back and he didn't really care if she believed him or not. Nox enjoyed the acceptance, even if it came with some right ripe bullshit. Bullshit was better than the shit his father slung at him.
Uncle Jake hadn't even been waiting. He was late. He was always late. It was one of the most annoying things about him.
Aurora called him on it. "You're late."
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." Uncle Jake quoted.
The three of them squashed into Uncle Jake's truck. Aurora got stuck in the middle which meant she pushed Nox into the door so my ass was wedged between the seat and the door most of the time as she sprawled out to sleep. Uncle Jake blasted old pop culture music from early 1990s. Nox drowned the crooning of his songs with his own. Uncle Jake was never about conversation. He wasn't there to enforce family issues, or help remedy them. The only reason Nox and Aurora were there because their parents needed a break from their life -- which included the annoying teenage kids.
And like all adventures with Uncle Jake, their parents wouldn't approve of what he did with them.
They knew they were going on a hunt. They knew they would have to kill. When they reached a gated community in the middle of the night was that they were hear to kill a god. A god, and his family.
Uncle Jake bribed the guard at the entrance. And they drove right through. The license plates would be switched out the moment they left town and were away from all the cameras. It was stupid to go in with Uncle Jake's truck but maybe he'd invested in some sort of electronic camo for the truck despite his aversion to technology he did use it when it was useful.
And that would be mega useful. Beats stealing a car and ditching it later. So much work just to get away from a kill with minimal cleaner effort. That shit was expensive, or so Nox were learning. Their dad didn't exactly like forking money over so they stuck to the woods.
But Uncle Jake, he liked the challenge of the city. And he took every opportunity afforded him to teach both of them. He had no kids of his own to pass down his legacy, so he taught their dad, and now he was teaching them. Nox was grateful. And he accepted the lessons.
The house was dark. "Alright kid. You come with me, sweetheart, can you use that new fangled doohickey of yours to cut the cameras so me and your brother can do what needs doing and you can keep those pretty little hands of yours clean?"
Aurora nodded. "Yeah. And this isn't a new fangled anything. Sage has something so much cooler."
"Sage this. Sage that. I'd tell you to go find a fucking room, but you did that already."
Aurora hauled off and hit Nox across the head with her elbow. "Bastard."
Nox grinned at his sister. "You know he just wanted in your pants. Still spies on you through that thing. Specially when you watch porn."
The color on Aurora's face almost matched the color of her shirt. Nox wasn't sure if it was anger or embarrassment, probably both. But he didn't give a fucking shit.
"Enough!" Uncle Jake said quietly. "We are here to do a job not air our dirty laundry."
They both sat up straight and nodded. "Yes sir," in unison as if they had been trained to do just that. And in a way they had.
Aurora got to work and shut down the security cameras. "That's going to alert the cops, so you need to be quick."
"Response time is shoddy at best. They'll call the house, then the cops and that'll take them 10 minutes to get here. Already timed it." Uncle Jake rattled off as he stepped out of the truck and drew his knife.
Nox took a deep breathe and followed suit, drawing his own knife -- the one Uncle Jake gave him and he followed after his mentor.
Breaking and entering was all part of the job. Uncle Jake made Nox do it. He'd been practicing, but not nearly as much as the rest -- his dad didn't exactly like it when he practiced the things Uncle Jake taught him. But he knew that it was a skill they needed to know so he never balked hard only often.
The door clicked open and there was already movement in the house. Uncle Jake moved in first and caught the man with the baseball bat as he walked past him from the kitchen on their left. He slit his throat with practiced ease. Which wasn't easy at all if you asked Nox -- not that he'd actually slit a man's throat like that.
They moved through the house and cleared each room systematically until the first floor was clear. They moved upstairs. Uncle Jake leading the way and stepping on the squeaky stair first. Nox smirked as he followed -- even expert hunters make mistakes.
At the top of the stairs Uncle Jake flagged Nox to go the opposite direction, as he checked the master bedroom from what Nox could tell from the open door. Nox went down the hall to the end. Probably his first mistake, at least the first one that mattered in all of that night.
He pushed opened the door and found a teenage boy with a bat about to take his head off. But Nox had been ready and ducked in time and manuevered in the same moment behind the boy and pushed his knife through the ribs and into his heart. A quick twist and the boy dropped and the knife slipped free.
The blade was covered in blood, the floor was starting to stain red and Nox finished clearing the room and moving back down the hall. A scream from the master bedroom brought a boy who was only slightly older than Nox out of his room. He looked like shit, his shirt was covered in sweat, he'd been in pain. That was their god.
He waved his hands in front of him like some sort of wizard. He gasped as fire spread between his fingers. The god was looking at Uncle Jake, he didn't see Nox behind him. Before the fire left the boys hands Nox had the blade pressed into his skull right through the ear like Uncle Jake said.
Uncle Jake nodded with a bright smile on his face. "No hesitation. Good lad. Now let's clean up our mess."
Cleaning up meant burning the place down. It would look like an accident, until the autopsy, if they did one. Which they usually did, and by then they'd be long gone, and hopefully no one would catch on. But that was for the Atharim lawyers and goons in the places that mattered to deal with. Uncle Jake would report the kill and they'd do the rest. Proof didn't matter -- just another dead monster in their books. That's all they cared about. That's all any good hunter cared about.
2039
"Nox!" Aurora shouted. "Come on, I gotta pee before we go. Get outta the bathroom! Uncle Jake ain't gonna like us being late cause you can't get your hair perfect!" Aurora kicked the door. "Come on, Mom said you have to stop taking so long." Aurora sighed. "Dad's coming!"
The door popped open and Aurora laughed as she pushed through and slammed the door on his ass. "Bitch!" Nox shouted.
Aurora laughed. "Slut!"
Nox rolled his eyes as he ran his fingers through his hair to finish combing it. "That's a low blow."
Aurora came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth. "Come on!" She pushed him out of the way and he grabbed her arms and they tumbled to the floor.
"Jerk!" Aurora laughed, "You made me swallow."
"You should be pretty good at that." Nox said with a laugh.
"You are so gross." Aurora said pushing off and getting off the floor and hurrying through the rest of her morning ritual. "You get ready like a girl."
Nox laughed. "I only do it to piss you off." He said as he grabbed his bag. They were going to spend the weekend with Uncle Jake. Their mother and father were going on a second honeymoon. Or at least that's what they were calling staying in the hotel for the next three days without kids around. They'd be fucking like rabbits like always and Nox was more than happy to be gone.
Aurora not so much. Not that she liked listening to the bunny humping, she didn't like spending time with Uncle Jake, his words of wisdom bugged her to hell and back and he didn't really care if she believed him or not. Nox enjoyed the acceptance, even if it came with some right ripe bullshit. Bullshit was better than the shit his father slung at him.
Uncle Jake hadn't even been waiting. He was late. He was always late. It was one of the most annoying things about him.
Aurora called him on it. "You're late."
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." Uncle Jake quoted.
The three of them squashed into Uncle Jake's truck. Aurora got stuck in the middle which meant she pushed Nox into the door so my ass was wedged between the seat and the door most of the time as she sprawled out to sleep. Uncle Jake blasted old pop culture music from early 1990s. Nox drowned the crooning of his songs with his own. Uncle Jake was never about conversation. He wasn't there to enforce family issues, or help remedy them. The only reason Nox and Aurora were there because their parents needed a break from their life -- which included the annoying teenage kids.
And like all adventures with Uncle Jake, their parents wouldn't approve of what he did with them.
They knew they were going on a hunt. They knew they would have to kill. When they reached a gated community in the middle of the night was that they were hear to kill a god. A god, and his family.
Uncle Jake bribed the guard at the entrance. And they drove right through. The license plates would be switched out the moment they left town and were away from all the cameras. It was stupid to go in with Uncle Jake's truck but maybe he'd invested in some sort of electronic camo for the truck despite his aversion to technology he did use it when it was useful.
And that would be mega useful. Beats stealing a car and ditching it later. So much work just to get away from a kill with minimal cleaner effort. That shit was expensive, or so Nox were learning. Their dad didn't exactly like forking money over so they stuck to the woods.
But Uncle Jake, he liked the challenge of the city. And he took every opportunity afforded him to teach both of them. He had no kids of his own to pass down his legacy, so he taught their dad, and now he was teaching them. Nox was grateful. And he accepted the lessons.
The house was dark. "Alright kid. You come with me, sweetheart, can you use that new fangled doohickey of yours to cut the cameras so me and your brother can do what needs doing and you can keep those pretty little hands of yours clean?"
Aurora nodded. "Yeah. And this isn't a new fangled anything. Sage has something so much cooler."
"Sage this. Sage that. I'd tell you to go find a fucking room, but you did that already."
Aurora hauled off and hit Nox across the head with her elbow. "Bastard."
Nox grinned at his sister. "You know he just wanted in your pants. Still spies on you through that thing. Specially when you watch porn."
The color on Aurora's face almost matched the color of her shirt. Nox wasn't sure if it was anger or embarrassment, probably both. But he didn't give a fucking shit.
"Enough!" Uncle Jake said quietly. "We are here to do a job not air our dirty laundry."
They both sat up straight and nodded. "Yes sir," in unison as if they had been trained to do just that. And in a way they had.
Aurora got to work and shut down the security cameras. "That's going to alert the cops, so you need to be quick."
"Response time is shoddy at best. They'll call the house, then the cops and that'll take them 10 minutes to get here. Already timed it." Uncle Jake rattled off as he stepped out of the truck and drew his knife.
Nox took a deep breathe and followed suit, drawing his own knife -- the one Uncle Jake gave him and he followed after his mentor.
Breaking and entering was all part of the job. Uncle Jake made Nox do it. He'd been practicing, but not nearly as much as the rest -- his dad didn't exactly like it when he practiced the things Uncle Jake taught him. But he knew that it was a skill they needed to know so he never balked hard only often.
The door clicked open and there was already movement in the house. Uncle Jake moved in first and caught the man with the baseball bat as he walked past him from the kitchen on their left. He slit his throat with practiced ease. Which wasn't easy at all if you asked Nox -- not that he'd actually slit a man's throat like that.
They moved through the house and cleared each room systematically until the first floor was clear. They moved upstairs. Uncle Jake leading the way and stepping on the squeaky stair first. Nox smirked as he followed -- even expert hunters make mistakes.
At the top of the stairs Uncle Jake flagged Nox to go the opposite direction, as he checked the master bedroom from what Nox could tell from the open door. Nox went down the hall to the end. Probably his first mistake, at least the first one that mattered in all of that night.
He pushed opened the door and found a teenage boy with a bat about to take his head off. But Nox had been ready and ducked in time and manuevered in the same moment behind the boy and pushed his knife through the ribs and into his heart. A quick twist and the boy dropped and the knife slipped free.
The blade was covered in blood, the floor was starting to stain red and Nox finished clearing the room and moving back down the hall. A scream from the master bedroom brought a boy who was only slightly older than Nox out of his room. He looked like shit, his shirt was covered in sweat, he'd been in pain. That was their god.
He waved his hands in front of him like some sort of wizard. He gasped as fire spread between his fingers. The god was looking at Uncle Jake, he didn't see Nox behind him. Before the fire left the boys hands Nox had the blade pressed into his skull right through the ear like Uncle Jake said.
Uncle Jake nodded with a bright smile on his face. "No hesitation. Good lad. Now let's clean up our mess."
Cleaning up meant burning the place down. It would look like an accident, until the autopsy, if they did one. Which they usually did, and by then they'd be long gone, and hopefully no one would catch on. But that was for the Atharim lawyers and goons in the places that mattered to deal with. Uncle Jake would report the kill and they'd do the rest. Proof didn't matter -- just another dead monster in their books. That's all they cared about. That's all any good hunter cared about.
![[Image: nox_sig.gif]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/nox_sig.gif)
![[Image: angel-mask.jpg]](https://i0.wp.com/thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/angel-mask.jpg)