9 First Demon Hunt

With the permission to take on a real mission, she started to feel guilty that she was lying to her mother about being a hunter. As soon as Artemis got home, she sat down with her mother to discuss the secret she had been hiding from her. To her surprise her mother revealed to her that she already knew. Artemis was the only daughter of a strong and righteous man, of course her daughter would mimic such a person.

Trinity watched her little one grow into a lovely young lady. Yes, her daughter prefers fitted clothes, that looked like an outfit meant for young men, she loved to wear those types of clothes along with her hair tied up in a high ponytail.

Her daughter was not a proper lady, but a young lady that was caring, strong, talented and above all else unique. This little one loved the outdoors, and did not mind being covered in dirt from head to toe. She soon realized that her daughter was meant to be a hunter when she met her daughter's furball, a large black wolf for the first time. The little one saved his life out of kindness and he responded to her kindness by submitting his undying loyalty to her.

With the consent of her mother, Artemis was able to be a part of a real mission with her brother and Uncle Bruce, whom was an experience hunter and master tamer. The disturbance was a bit far away, so she had to pack a travel bag. She hugged her mother tightly and said farewell to the remaining hunters that were still left in town. The party of three headed east away from the town by talking a path through the forest that lie on the outskirt of town.

On the pathway within the forest leading out of town, Artemis' furball was waiting patiently for the group. He was waiting in a sitting stance while licking at his bloody covered paw.

"Someone had breakfast already," she claimed smiling at the beast with a soft affectionate expression.

Upon hearing the sweet melodious voice of his lovely comrade, the furball walked up to her, rubbing his head at her side. She happily lifted her hand to pet his fluffy back to ruffling up his soft fur gently, before she continued walking forward.

'Wow, my sis can even tame a majestic wolf to act like a love-seeking pet. There's never a dull moment around sis,' the brotherly hunter thought with a silent chuckle as he observed their affectionate behavior.

"According to this map it will take us at least a few days of travel to reach Mount Ochre," the elder hunter spoke with a firm and focus tone looking at the hand drawn map within his grip.

"How many days do you estimate, sir? Four or five days….maybe more?" the young hunter wondered while looking over at the middle-aged man.

"It should take us no more than two to three days to reach it," the elder hunter finally confirmed before packing the map away into his back pocket.

"Argh! I really hate walking," the young hunter protested with disdain pulling at both sides of his cheeks.

Artemis lips spread wide across her face making her cheeks puff up a bit as she watched her brother acting lazy-ish again. Her brother was an active and energetic person, but he hated getting up early, being forced to train all day and lastly…... traveling for long distances.

"Walking is good for you. You'll be fine. Plus, you're a demon hunter you have enough stamina for this type of distance," replied the elder hunter looking at the lazy youngster.

"Ha-ha Ha…." Travis laughed conceding quickly without any complaints. "So, sis did you choose this mission, because the victims are female?" asked the brotherly hunter walking up on her right side.

Artemis nodded in confirmation with a confident smile.

"One notice said that many woman have been disappearing at night. They believed it was the act of a fellow villager or a neighboring villager, whom was abducting the women, then they realized their claim was wrong after relocating one of the missing woman. The woman was found unharmed and with short term amnesia. Our first destination is Citrine Village. It's the closest in relation to our town and their notice only reported one woman going missing. We will gather the intel on what they know first before heading to the other," explained the elder hunter as he retracted the information from the two notice from memory.

"That's strange. Were there anything else written on those notices?" asked the intrigued youngster, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"All of them did mention about how some details were best explained in person," the elder hunter added.

That statement puzzled Travis. The case must be more complicated than they thought. "Okay…..So what do you think is the cause? Are there any demons that targets only woman?" asked young hunter after searching his own memory bank, which came up empty. He could not think of any demon that could cause such a disturbance.

"No. Although, if there are one, I haven't encounter one. Maybe it's just a simple case of sleepwalking," suggested the elder.

"I believe the women are probably being enchanted by someone. I read in one of the demon catalog that there is a demon that enchants their victims by singing, which ultimately leads to their deaths. Maybe there's another demon that enchants woman away from their homes," a mellow and feminine voice elaborated openly as they walked down the forest path.

"You have a point young Miss. There are so many demons out there in hiding. We don't hunt to kill we hunt to protect. If they're causing a disturbance, we as hunters must protect the weak," proclaimed the elder hunter justly.

Both Artemis and Travis nodded in agreement.

Bruce was a righteous and kind fellow. He was one of the older men that helped save her life. He is also the same 'uncle' that saw her potential for being a tamer. As a man in his late thirties, as the behemoth, he had black hair and grayish-brown eyes. He had a solid built with decent sized muscles. Although, several scars covered his tan body structure. The most noticeable scar was on the bottom of his right cheek. Most people would be frightened in the presence of this man, but not Artemis. She felt perfectly safe under this hunter caring nature. She internally thanked the behemoth for assigning him to her as additional aid.

It took the trio and a beast two whole days to reach the first village. They arrived at the isolated village known as Citrine Village, a few hours after nightfall on the second day. The trio made a campsite on the outskirt of the village in hope to find the sender of the notice in the morning.

As soon the sun came up, they washed their faces and found some breakfast before combing through the village looking for a person by the name River. After talking to a few villagers, the hunters were able to learn that the person whom they were looking for was a young man in his late twenties. He lived on the outskirts of Citrine Village, station by a river stream.

They ventured on a mile away from the village and sure enough they came across a little log cottage station by a lively river stream. The young male hunter knocked twice on the front door of the cottage to see if anyone was home.

Standing outside the door for at least five minutes, the young man looked back at his comrades. The elder hunter gesture to the youngster to knock again, so he knocked on the door once again. As he was launching his second knock, the door slowly creak open. Standing in the doorway was a man with dark color hair and blue eyes that looked a bit cloudy. His lower chin was cover with an unkempt full beard. Even though he was a young fellow, his face displayed an appearance of a man that has aged ten years pass his actual age.