Chapter 3

Four men surrounded a woman in that dark alley, looking at her hungrily. She was a prostitute, and she was promised a hefty sum for her services. She thought nothing of it at the time, thinking that the men were simply perverts with a twisted appetite for sex. "Please don't hurt me, I'll do anything you want. I won't go to the police or anything, I promise! Please just don't hurt me" implored the woman. The men simply laughed, and the one who appeared to be the leader of the group said "Don't worry about that little monkey, we won't hurt you at all...". Then he smiled wickedly, a set of fangs protruding "We'll just kill you and take your soul, that's all". They slowly made their way to the woman, taunting her at every step. "Guys , do you smell that?" the smallest of the bunch said, but since they were all over six feet in height, they all seemed like giants to the Filipina. "shut up man, there aren't any Dark-Hunters here on this side of the world." "Yeah, I know.. but there's something amiss..." The tallest one, who appeared to be about six feet five, sighed arrogantly, "Stop being such a chicken, adelfos!" he snarled.

"On the contrary guys I'd say he's the smart one. What do you say you let the woman go and face someone your own size." A voice suddenly said, startling the four tall blond men. "Well, at least kind of..." "Show yourself!" snarled the leader. A short figure came out of the darkness. At Five feet four inches, the man was hardly intimidating. He appeared more like a couch potato than anything else actually. He was short, out of shape, with a belly that was round with lackof exercise. The Four blondes laughed. They were Daimons, descendants of Apollo's blood line. They were tall, muscular, perfect in every way, and had psychic abilities. For them, the short guy was someone they can take with both hands tied behind their backs. "That was great, i haven't laughed like that for years" The leader said after sobering up, "but there's not much you can do, human. but I'd be more than happy to take your soul for myself".

"Stop with the bad b-movie cliches and fight already Fabio. Just attack me already, for a big bad-ass vampire you talk more than an episode of Oprah." the newcomer chided. He appeared nonchalant, it was either he was confident or just too stupid to know how much shit he was in. "That's it you monkey, you're dead!" the shortest Daimon snarled, then charged the newcomer head on. The newcomer simply deflected the Daimon's punch and immediately delivered an open-palm thrust that succeeded in breaking the Daimon's nose and mad him bleed. "Stop humiliating us Rick and kill him already!" The leader shouted. Rick snarled and turned on the newcomer with a vengeance. He rained punches and kicks on the short guy but all his blows were blocked. This really was humiliating, specially for a Daimon.They were tall, terrifying creatures of the night, and this midget wasn't even sweating! "For the record Daimon, yes I know what you are you asshole, I'm not a midget. Are we gonna fight or are all four of you just gonna stare like you saw a ghost? Some vampires you are, hah!" That finally made the other three get up and charged at him. "About time you guys started, I was getting bored with l'il chump here". They attacked en masse, and ten seconds later it was over. All of the Daimons turned to dust and the newcomer shaking his head. "I really need to exercise more. At least I got a good warm up from this." The guy left after seeing that the prostitute had left during the fight.

On the rooftop, Bathala and Acheron was watching the man leave. Acheron actually half-expected the guy to flash himself out, but he simply walked all the way to the bus stop and waited for a bus. They were at the top of the bank that closed off one side of the alley where the fight happened, and they saw the entire fight. "Do you have any ideas on what he is, yet?" Ash asked the other god. If the human was only taller he could quantify that the reason that the guy won was that he was a Dark-Hunter, one of the immortal Daimon slayers that the goddess Artemis created. But as it was, Ash was sure the guy was not a Hunter, nor was he immortal. Bathala replied "I'm not sure. his lack of powers suggests that he's not a Chthonian nor a god, but I sense that he has something in him. A power that I can't describe". "I sense that too" Ash said, "but we know he's not just any mortal. I know because I'm training the malachai, and that kid may not be powerful yet, but he definitely can be. The question is, what is he" and what side is he on?" "I got you beat there my friend, I may be wrong, but I sense he is something that is both and neither" Bathala answered. "How so?" Ash asked with an arched brow. Bathala looked tense. "He's not entirely good or evil, just like your malachai, but he has the capacity for both and we need to guard him and make sure he doesn't turn evil". Bathala sighed and shook his head, then turned to look at Ash. "I think we might have one of the true god-killers in our hands. Not just a Chthonian, but the kind that can kill anything. even Chthonians..."