6 Chapter 6: Call of The Blood Man I

Touya made his way through the spacious halls of the monastery until Elijah's large door came into view. After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

As he stepped into the familiarly large room, the scent of freshly baked pastries rushed into his nostrils. He quickly found the source of the wonderful aroma, which was a plate filled with cinnamon rolls.

"Good morning Boss."

"Good morning. No need for the Boss though."

"Really? Whenever Hayami brought you up, she called you that."

"She served in the military, that's just how she works." He held out his finger for a hummingbird to rest on it, "So...let's get down to business. You're here to go on your first mission, right?"

"Yes Sir."

"Goodie." He pulled out a futuristic looking smartphone and passed it to him. "That's one of our state of the art communication devices, called an Exo-Com. It allows us to contact each other, and to relay information on our missions."

Touya nodded his head in understanding as he powered on the device. He was greeted by a feed of different missions with varying images and cash rewards.

"What you're seeing right now is the mission board. That's self explanatory. If you want to learn more about a mission, just click it...or tap it. However, you don't need to select a mission, since I've already selected one for you."

"Huh...neat." He put the device into his pocket, "So...what is it?"

"Have you ever heard of the Chupacabra?"

"I think so..."

"I'll provide a quick refresher just in case. It's an urban legend that originated in Mexico. Essentially, it's a cryptid that sucks the blood of goats during nightfall. Our client has evidence of the creature in their farm. Your job is to head there and exorcise the Demon."

"Wait...it's a Demon?"

"Yes. Spirits and Demons are manifestations of human beliefs. If someone believes in something to a great extent, it will manifest. Spirits are good manifestations, while Demons are bad." He held out his hand with the hummingbird, "These hummingbirds in my room are the spirits I've bonded with."

"Ok. I knew that something was special about them: hummingbirds can't rest."

"Yes. Now I understand what you're capable of with your chi powers, you can use them to tranquilize demons."

"Yup-"

Wait...how does he know that? I don't remember telling him.

"However, you're more suited as an assist. So I'll have another exorcist accompany you."

"Hayami?"

"Oh...I'm afraid not. She had some business to attend to. Don't worry though, your actual partner is just as skilled." He looked up to the clock on the wall, "They should be here any second now."

I wonder who it is...What if I already met them? Is it that dude with the green hair? I can't even remember his name...or is it Red?

He felt a chill creep up his spine as he recalled her name. It was just something about her that brushed him the wrong way...something besides the whole prank thing.

The door opened behind Touya, and a familiar figure stepped inside.

"G..good morning..."

Elijah's face lit up as the timid girl spoke out to him. "Good morning Kowaima. Are you prepared for your mission today?"

"Yes Sir..."

Touya stared at Kowaima and let out a relieved breath. Somehow, he had completely forgotten about her, which surprised him considering what happened yesterday. "What's up?"

"H..h..Hi!" She was visibly shaking, and her face was pale with fear.

Her frightened condition slowly sank in on Touya. He knew that it was bad to judge a book by its cover, but there was just no way that he could see her as a fighter. She was too scared to even speak out to normal citizens.

How in the hell is she a good exorcist? I'm gonna get killed on my first mission!

"Now. I recommend that you guys head out immediately."

"Yes Sir!"

"Y..yes Sir."

-

Touya and Kowaima sat in a cab together, heading to their destination.

The whole ride was completely silent, even the cab driver remained quiet. Most of the ride, Kowaima stared at Touya, as if she were anticipating his next move. Touya just looked at memes on his phone. They drove through several streets until they reached a rural area. After about 20 minutes, they finally reached their destination.

"This is neat. I've never been to a farm." Touya looked over to Kowaima to see if his desperate attempt at small talk succeeded.

"Ha ha...me neither."

Perhaps it did.

They made their way towards the farmhouse, fully prepared to take on the mission.

"Kowaima? Can I ask you a question?"

"S..sure."

"Why are you so scared of me?"

She stopped walking and pulled the hood of her parka over her head. It was actually a good place to hide your face due to the fact that the fur stood out. It wasn't as long as the one she wore yesterday though, it stopped at her waist. It let him see her dark brown leggings.

"I..I'm not scared of you."

"Oh. Why do you act so weird around me then?"

"I uh...Don't hurt me! I spent all night practicing! So I know that I w..won't disappoint you!"

"What are you talking abou-"

Before Touya could finish speaking, Kowaima pulled down her hood and lunged towards him. Touya instinctively palmed her face and gently moved her back.

"What is wrong with you?! I don't want to kiss you!"

"Ah! I'm s..s..sorry!" She threw her hood back on and fled behind a tree.

What the hell? This girl's a nutcase!

He stood still, waiting for her to come out of hiding. However, she didn't come back, not even bothering to peak out. Seeing no other way to move forward, he took it upon himself to approach her.

"Kowaima?" He looked behind the tree to see the submissive girl crouching in fear. "What are you doing?"

"I'm s..sorry. You're g..g..gonna kill me now aren't you?" She glanced up at him with frightened, teary eyes.

"Who said that I wanted to kill you? I already told you that we were good. Now relax..."

She didn't budge.

"Okay. I'm sorry for screaming...but I have a girlfriend already. And it's clear that kissing you would be cheating. Nothing against you though."

She wiped her tears away as a crooked smile appeared on her face, "R..really?"

"Yeah. I mean it." He reached out to take her hand, "Now let's go exorcise that demon."

She took his hand and stood onto her feet. "Okay. Let's go then."

Touya smiled and nodded his head, "Right."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Touya pushed Kowaima to the floor and jumped down with her as the gunshots echoed through the air.

Just as quickly as she stopped crying, the tears quickly resurfaced.

"Who's out there!?"

Touya watched as Kowaima turned to him. Her eyes looked as if they were waiting for him to save her. He steeled himself as he prepared to speak out.

"We were sent by the Cobalt Sector exorcists. We're here to eliminate the demon in your farm!"

He waited with bated breath as the women, who he assumed had the gun, went silent.

"Oops. My bad! Come on in ya whippersnappers!"

Touya helped Kowaima back to her feet and came from behind the tree. He saw a woman with blonde hair tied into two pigtails, wearing a checkered shirt that was tied, revealing her midriff. She also wore some blue denim shorts, and brown cowboy boots.

"My name's Blaze. Pleasure to meet y'all!" She reached out to shake both of their hands.

"My name's Touya."

"K..Kowaima..."

They all shook hands and stepped inside of the farmhouse. The entrance led straight into the kitchen. It had a normal sized wooden table with fours seats, one to each side. The air was filled with the scent of steak, and there was a cool draft of wind going through the room.

"Alright. Y'all can sit here. Would ya like any beverages?"

"N..n..no. I'm alright."

"All good here."

"Nonsense! I'll get y'all some water!!" She sped over to the refrigerator and retrieved three ice cold water bottles. She handed two of them to Touya and Kowaima.

"Thanks."

"Th..th..thank you..."

"No problem." Blaze sat down at the table and smiled, "You kids must be pretty good at exorcising demons."

"Uh...I don't know about th..that." Kowaima held onto the bottle with shaky hands.

"This is my first mission, but I hope to live up to your expectations."

Blaze spat out her water, "What?!"

"Don't worry, our boss told us that this should be a pretty easy mission."

"Sorry, but it's hard not to worry..." She readjusted herself, "Anyways, I'm having steak for lunch, would you guys like some?"

"I'm good. We're here to help you, I don't want to seem like a leech."

Kowaima nodded in agreement with Touya's statement.

"Aw...don't be like that. I'm the one using your services now. I'll feel bad if I have two kids working without paying them."

Her tone was truly sincere, and her expression let Touya know that she wasn't going to change her stance on the matter anytime soon.

"Alright. I guess it wouldn't hurt to eat." He looked to Kowaima to see what she had to say, but her eyes showed that she was willing to go with anything he said.

"Good." Blaze ran over to the stove and plated two pieces of steak. She sat them both down on the table and bowed as if she were presenting a masterpiece. "Dig in kids."

Touya felt his mouth water as he stared at the juicy steak. It was dressed in some sort of gravy, giving it a pristine shine. "Down the hatch." He grabbed the knife and fork handed to him and cut into the steak. As he took a bite, he looked towards Kowaima, and she still had her cautious mask on.

He decided to ignore her and completely concentrate on the flavors.

"Um...Blaze? I..is this steak well done?"

"Of course not little lady, it's rare."

Touya's heart sank as he spat out the food onto the plate, "Did you say rare?"

"Yeah. It's the only way to eat steak. Warm, tender, juicy, still has some blood left over...Well done steak is all dry and nasty!"

"I..I'll have to pass..." Kowaima pushed the plate away from her.

"Same here. Sorry."

"What? It's really good!"

"You might as well walk onto the farm and bite the cow. I can't eat food that's rare or medium rare."

"Well that's too bad. I guess we could get started on the actual reason you two came here. I don't want to keep y'all all day."

A sense of relief washed over Touya as Blaze got up and left the kitchen. He heard Kowaima let out a sigh of relief as well.

As he stood up to follow Blaze, he felt Kowaima tug on his arm.

"T..Touya?"

"What's up?"

"This woman...Something's wrong with her..."

"What do you mean?" He sat back down as his normal tone turned into a whisper.

"We're here to hunt a Chupacabra, and they like to suck blood, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't you think-"

"Come on kiddies. The goats aren't gonna save themselves!"

"We'll talk later."

They both got up and followed Blaze into the animal house. The scent of hay and manure assaulted their noses, as the air stagnated inside. Touya pinched his nose, while Kowaima retreated into her parka.

There were tons of cattle and livestock all locked in pins. Not a single one of them looked happy at all. The pins were cramped, with at least ten animals in each one, feces were scattered across the ground, and small rodents dispersed as they went deeper.

Just as he thought things couldn't get worst, Kowaima let out a frightened whimper and grabbed onto his arm. When he looked in the direction she was looking in, he saw a decomposed corpse on the ground.

"Here we are."

Touya examined the area. Looking closer at the corpse, it was definitely a goat. There were three puncture wounds in its neck, and it looked as if it had been drained of all bodily fluids. He didn't even want to call it a corpse, it looked like a bag. "I was about to ask you if you were sure that a Chupacabra attacked, but this makes it as clear as day."

"Yup. Three died just last night...well four now..."

"Oh..."

Kowaima's hold on his arm tightened, and he could feel her shaking. This was definitely too gruesome for her to handle, so he decided to lead the investigation.

"Blaze, do you live here alone?"

"Yessir! Been that way for five years."

"Can you remember when the demon first appeared?"

"Hmm...I'd say about a couple months ago."

"I see." He rubbed Kowaima's head, knowing that the revelation he just made would upset her. "Looks like we'll have to do a stakeout."

"What? Why?!" Her voice cracked as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Since the Chupacabra's nocturnal, night time is the best time to strike...Probably the only time to strike."

Blaze shrugged her shoulders, "I guess it can't be helped. Do you guys need somewhere to hide? Or some refreshments?"

Touya thought to himself for a moment, "We'll have to hide somewhere by the goats."

Blaze walked over to a stack of hay and moved it around, "This here should keep you guys hidden."

"Ok. Thanks."

"D..d..do we have to hide right now? It's only ten in the morning..."

"I guess not. We could probably start at night." Touya could tell that that was exactly what Kowaima wanted.

"Alright. Do you guys just wanna hang around or something?"

"Yeah. We might be able to find out more about this demon plaguing your farm."

"Sounds good. I'm gonna go take a nap, so have fun." Blaze yawned before leaving out of the cabin area.

As the doors closed, Kowaima fell to her knees. "I..I..I don't want to do th..this!"

"Really? How are you even an exorcist?" He felt the sting of guilt as soon as the question left his mouth. It came off more rude than he wanted it to. He just couldn't fathom why someone like Kowaima became an exorcist.

"I..I didn't ask for this!" She stood up on her shaky legs and wiped away her tears. "My mommy made me become an exorcist! All I want to do is move to the suburbs and die after a long, boring life!"

"What kind of dream is that?"

"It's m..my dream." She took a moment to catch her breath, while also searching for a way to explain herself. "I know that you can see it already. I'm not cut out for this life...I just want to move to a peaceful neighborhood, and live a calm life."

"Oh, I guess I can understand that. Why would your mother force you to be an exorcist though? Is it money?" He didn't want to pry, but his curiosity was just too powerful to ignore.

"Well...one reason is because my entire family is made up of exorcists."

"Really!? Do I know any of them?"

She nodded her head yes. "Red is my mom, and Hayami is my older sister."

His immediate reaction was of course shock, but he wrote it off as a joke of some sort. Maybe she was talking about how their bond was like a family's bond. He couldn't see an ounce of resemblance in any of them. "Are you for real?"

"Yeah, but we're an adoptive family. My mommy adopted both me and Hayami."

"Oh, that makes sense." Red looked like she was still in her twenties. Touya really appreciated how mature she had to be to adopt two kids in her twenties.

"If you want to know the main reason, it's due to my powers."

"That's right, I never really asked you about your spirit."

"N..no. I don't fight with a spirit. I use my own soul."

"What?"

"It's sort of complicated, so I'll try to simplify it for you." She put both of her hands together as she thought of a way to deliver the info to Touya. "In a nutshell, my soul is abnormally dense. This allows me to use it to overwhelm my opponent's souls."

"Oh, that was surprisingly simple to understand. I mean, I don't really get the soul manipulation part, but I got the gist of it."

"Okay. If you really want to know more, I'm sure my mommy can tell you about it."

"I guess I'll ask her later." Touya sat down in a wooden chair and let out a sigh, "I'm sorry if I came off rude earlier, I was just really curious."

She sat down in the chair next to him and pulled out her phone, "It's fine. I'm sure that everyone sees me as an abnormality in the grand scheme of the world."

"I wouldn't say that. You're just an interesting person, that's all." He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"Is that so?" A light blush appeared on her face as she continued to scroll through the news feed on her favorite social media app. "Do you mind telling me the reason you became an exorcist?"

His eyes opened as he heard her call out to him. Her voice wasn't as shaky or fragile as it was before. She still had her delicate tone, but her articulation was much more smooth.

"When I think about it, the main reason I'm an exorcist is to save my sister. A demon took her soul, and I feel like I have a good chance to find it this way."

"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."

"It's fine. I know that I'll get her back."

They both sat in complete silence, not knowing what to say to move the conversation forward. They had an infinite amount of time to sit around, and they did just that.