Aselia then waited for the enemy to take the bait. She sat down on a large stone and tried to keep her leg steady. Ten minutes passed when she heard a shuffling of clothes behind her, Aselia turned quickly to find herself face-to-face with another girl. She was tall and had beautiful sea-green eyes. Her head was covered in a cap and her golden hair flowed behind her. The girl was extremely beautiful, with an ivory flawless skin.

"Hey!" Aselia greeted her.

"Hello! Did you hurt yourself miss? May I help you?" She inquired in a soft sweet voice while pointing to Aselia’s leg. Where the blood was dripping out and pooling on the ground before.

"Oh! Look at my clumsiness. My boyfriend is coming so he will take care of it." Aselia wanted to get rid of the girl, in case the enemy appeared. She didn’t want any harm to come to her.

"I insist," the girl whispered, stepping closer to Aselia and grabbing her arm the girl yanked her closer. Aselia’s eyes flew wide open at the force she applied. The girl’s green eyes turned charcoal black and she opened her mouth to reveal her protruding canines ready to bite into Aselia’s arm.

The Elven hunter retrieved her knife from her other wrist and aimed for her neck but the girl was fast and she dodged the attack, dropping her cap on the ground in the process, revealing her ears to Aselia, and making her gasp.

She had protruding ears just like Aselia did. The hunter stopped in her tracks and this cost her for the girl plunged her sharp fangs into Aselia’s left arm, making her groan and hiss in pain at her.

~Bang~

The special bullet from Yurian’s gun hurled through the air and pierced the girl in her neck, immobilizing her instantly as she fell and began to choke on her blood. Her hair spread on the ground and was quickly turning a shade of crimson from its original gold.

"Nooo," Aselia shrieked and waved at Yurian to not shoot her anymore. She hurriedly bent down and took the girl in her arms, her eyes had reverted to green and her fangs had disappeared as she sputtered out blood from her mouth and neck.

"Who are you?" Aselia desperately questioned her but she couldn’t speak as life dwindled from her eyes, leaving her lifeless in the arms of the hunter. Aselia gritted her teeth in annoyance.

Yurian came rushing toward her from his hiding spot and inquired while trying to catch his breath: "Are you injured?" He threw a glance at the girl in Aselia’s arms whose eyes were now closed and the wound on her neck still oozed blood.

"I am fine, but we needed her alive Yuri. By the time I realized what she was it was already too late." Aselia sadly shook her head.

"What are you talking about?" Yurian seemed perplexed as he hovered over the two girls.

"She was a hybrid and a rare one, I have never seen someone like her." Aselia showed the girl’s ears to her partner and explained how her eyes had changed colour.

"That’s very strange indeed, I have never seen a hybrid who can change their eye colour and certainly never seen one like her. Can vampires and elves even mix breed?" As soon as the words left Yurian’s mouth he knew he had made a mistake for Aselia shifted uneasily and lowered her gaze.

"I meant it’s highly unlikely, not impossible though but colour-changing eyes were strange." Yurian quickly added.

"I know, let’s take her back and have a quick scan if she was alone or has a partner. I wonder where she came from." Aselia sensed sadness creep up on her because of the girl. She realized how difficult it was to kill someone who belonged to one’s species, besides the girl could have given them some answers.

Yurian hitched the dead girl on his shoulder while Aselia gathered his ammunition and weapons. Soon the Chief of Police reached them too with his men. A perimeter was set up and they scanned the whole area, trying to find anyone that might be lurking, but they found no one.

"Thank you for catching the culprit in such a short time." The Chief of Police offered his gratitude with a curt nod.

Police took the dead body of the girl to the morgue for autopsy. Aselia had requested that the bite mark’s on all victims to be matched with the girl’s fangs to see if she was operating alone or had a team or partner with her.

Yurian and Aselia were taken to a med room so Aselia’s wounded arm and leg could be treated. She sat down on a stool with Yurian standing behind her as the doctor cleansed her injured arm and leg and bandaged them.

After getting discharged from the doctor, both hunters were taken to Mayor’s office. The man was smiling ear to ear as he beamed: "Thank you so much, you have been such a great help to us. We can never repay you, families can finally have some solace knowing the culprit has been killed."

"It was our duty, no need for thanks," Yurian replied returning the old man’s smile, while Aselia couldn’t stop thinking about the girl who had died in her arms.

The night had fallen as Aselia and Yurian made a few rounds around the town, making sure no other creature was lurking there. They were staying the night to wait for the autopsy results and also to ascertain the people of the town were safe.

Both of them sat outside on the top of an abandoned house, keeping watch for any suspicious activity or person. Mayor had arranged food for them but they took it outside and ate under the open sky.

The emotions girl held when she breathed her last in Aselia’s arms were bugging her. The elven-vampire hybrid girl wanted to say something, Aselia was sure of it and something told her that she wasn’t born that way.

"Partner, eat. Stop pondering too much." Yurian handed her a bowl of hot pipping noodles and Aselia took it warming her hands with the bowl for the night was cold, and her body shivered from the gust of cold wind that blew.

Yurian was observing the surroundings with the night vision binoculars, there was no irregular movement though. They ate in silence after that, and in a few hours, they were replaced by a few policemen so they could get some rest.

Special guest rooms were arranged for them both by the Mayor in his residence. As soon as Aselia flopped on her bed, her thoughts went to Xiran and her heart picked up its beat. The way he had spoken to her before she left, torched her soul. He had never addressed her in that manner before. She knew she deserved it and much more and still it pinged her heart like an arrow was pierced into it. The arrow formulated of his words, for they hurt just like she had done on numerous occasions to him.

The sleep finally engulfed her in its arms with his thoughts on her mind.

The next day they woke up early, the autopsy report had been prepared and after cross-matching, they discovered all bite marks belonged to the same girl, indicating she was operating alone. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"That’s a relief, at least we won’t have to worry about anyone lurking in the shadows. Our town will be safe again, thanks to you people." Mayor offered his heartfelt thank you to the two hunters as the Chief of Police and his men loaded the wrapped dead body of the hybrid girl in the trunk of their car. No one noticed a hooded figure who watched them from a distance and then disappeared in the shadows.

"It was our mission. We will do a DNA test and run the results through our system to try and identify who she was. We will send you the official report." Aselia informed them before they took their leave from the two men in charge, who were left in the awe of the two hunters and their professionalism.

Back in the car, Aselia and Yurian discussed at length what their plan would be to help Xiran escape. They wanted it to be perfect without any loopholes, but first Aselia had to talk to him.

Reaching back to their customized plane they loaded the car in and placed the dead body in the specially designed freezer, which was built into the plane for this specific purpose.

Sighing Aselia settled down in her seat while Yurian opened the mini fridge and brought a champagne bottle and two glasses. Aselia shot him a meaningful look and asked:

"What are we celebrating?"

"Us completing another mission successfully." He beamed at his partner and handed her a glass. Popping the lid he half-filled her glass and his own and sat down beside her.

"Cheers," they both clinked the glasses and drowned their sorrows with it.