Demon Hunter 5

The five young Hunters sat at the table in the basement, listening to the last lesson they would learn from Rich.

It had been three months since the battle at Vaardock Castle, and they had stayed with Rich ever since.

Dillon had been hurt pretty bad; he had been in a coma for two days before he woke up. It was the scariest two days of Bob's, life. His brother dying was his worst fear aside from their parents' deaths.

When Dillon regained consciousness, he was hungry. Rich's stores always seemed full, so Dillon was fed until he just about burst.

Bob asked Rich one day about how his food supply was always full, and the only answer he got was Rich pointing skyward. Bob had smiled understandingly and walked away.

Since then, Rich had trained them. They had sparred against each other to hone their speed and agility, they had broken bricks and trained for hours on Rich's punching bag in the basement, and only gotten stronger. They were now at the peak of their skills, and today they would try again for the Pearl.

"I would like to review on the lessons I have taught you," Rich started. He held up a finger. "One. Crosses effect all demons. So does blessed water. The only way to kill a demon with a weapon without the Demon Hunter symbol is to cut their head off. Be careful of the Elite Guards; Shinn was one of them. There are four more: Cunn, Lee, Forrno, and Beal. They will be as fast as you, hence the sparring, as strong as you, hence the sparring, and as good a fighter as you, hence-"

"The sparring!" The younger Hunters finished in unison on his cue.

"Go get suited up and come back here. I have one last thing for all of you."

All five were back in less than a minute, suited up and eager to go.

On the table was a line of items. Along the top of the table were twenty dirks. The only thing that gave them away as weapons instead of crosses was the blade sticking out of the bottom. Below that were glass test-tubes with corks capping their tops. Impossibly clear water filled the insides.

It was a spear, as long as he was tall, with a weirdly shining long spade-shaped blade. Four prongs protruded from the circular guard, all pointing up and very deadly-looking. The shaft was black, and at the butt of the spear was a copper cap, used both for causing damage and equalizing the weight for throwing.

Ingenious, thought Jeff, I wonder who made this?

"Now, ladies an' yentlemen, the goods. These are dirks. You'll throw them exactly how I taught you to throw the knives. The cross design will prevent the demon from crossing its path within about two feet. If they come inside that circle of two feet, they will burn. If they're on the outside edge, the burning won't be bad, but as they get closer to the cross, the burning becomes worse. I suggest you hide them in your clothes; it only works of they can see it, and if they see it on you, they won't come within two feet of you. And if they can't come within two feet of you, how are you gonna kill them?"

Bob, Jeff, and Ashley, being the smart-alecks they were, pulled their guns and smiled.

"Wise-asses," Rich muttered as they hid the guns in their vests. "Moving on..." he shot a sideways look as he picked up one of the test-tubes. "These are your water grenades."

"Excuse me?" asked Alex.

"Blessed water, pee-wee. Throw ...em at any demon within a one foot diameter, and poof! They're gone! Each of you get five of each. Use them wisely, ...cause you won't be able to come back here for awhile."

All five grabbed their designated amount, and started packing the items into their vests. The test-tube glass was very thick and took some power to break, so none had to take much time to pack those. All of the Chosen slid them securely under one of the straps on the vest.

The dirks were more of a problem. Luckily, Jeff found that it was easy to cut open a small slit in the side of the vests and slip the blade in in front of the underlying metal plates.

"Jeff, I got somethin' for ya. Come ...ere." Rich stood by the magnificent spear and picked it up.

"It was yer Ma's. Irene's. Her pride an' joy next to you. She was so sad that she'd never be able to see you, an' asked me to give this to you if I ever saw ya. Well, here ya are." He handed it over as if it were a fragile piece of pottery. "Ya might call it a family heir loom. Yer great-great-grandpa made it. Not really sure how far it goes back, but that sounds about right." He wiped a tear from his eye that had forced its way out in rememberance of Irene. She had fought as hard as any male fighter and died fighting the demons.

Jeff felt a surge of anger at the demons that he could barely contain. In his hands, the warm metal calmed him, knowing that his mother had once handled it. Jeff tried to find some place to hold it on his body, but found that he couldn't. In the end, he decided to just carry the spear.

"Well," Rich muttered, "I guess this be goodbye. Good luck-yer gonna need it." Rich turned, head bowed, and hobbled into his study.

Ashley started after him, but Jeff stopped her. "He can take care of himself." She nodded and filed up the stairs and out of the church.

Rich wrote a letter. Not a very long one, just long enough to tell Keith, John, Amber, Mary, and Bailey that he was alive; that he forgave them for leaving him behind. After all, who could have possibly survived an explosion like the one he had?

He folded the letter and tucked it into one of many inside pockets sewn into his ninja suit. He tightened his belt, made sure everything was accessible, and peeked out a crack in the door.

He heard the younger Hunters upstairs getting ready to leave. After he heard the door slam, Rich moved silently as a cat to the upstairs. He would follow them; protect them, fight along side them if he needed to. For now he would just tag along out of sight.

As he strolled out the door, Rich kicked the cane-slash-sword into his hands.

The five young Hunters walked easily on the winding path towards the castle. The landscape was red dirt in the form of hills, tall, rolling, and steep.

Jeff broke the silence after almost five minutes of walking. "I trust we have a new strategy this time?"