Hunters

The sun was setting when Eliana left the mall, walking to the underground parking lot with a plastic bag in hand. In it were newly bought items. From the distance, she heard a woman whimper accompanied by a low, threatening growl of a man.

Eliana stopped walking and listened but she was met with silence. Only the erratic beating of the woman's heart could be heard. Eliana frowned, noticing her ability to hear the heartbeat of a human being from such a great distance. This was new to her.

She drew closer, taking little light steps to ensure that she was not heard. She then drew close enough to see the woman lying on the cold floor of the parking lot. Two Silhouettes could be seen looming over her but moved with an unimaginable speed when they sensed her presence and they vanished into thin air.

Left alone, Eliana increased her pace, taking large strides to reach the lady whose heartbeat was now slowing down.

"Are you alright?" Eliana asked. She went on her knees to check the woman's pulse and let out a breath when she felt the pulse from her neck. But another thing caught her interest.

On her neck was fresh blood trickling down and disappearing into her clothes.

Eliana frowned but her eyes kept staring at the blood. It did not look odd to her that the woman was bleeding, rather she found it very familiar like it was something that she had come to recognize as normal.

"Step away from her," a man's voice commanded from behind her. She heard them coming but she never thought they were coming for the woman.

Slowly, Eliana stood up so she wouldn't make any sudden movements that would have the three men behind her.

"Your hands in the air, then slowly turn around." Another ordered and she did as she was told. "Miss Kim?!" the officer exclaimed but the suspicion in his tone could not be hidden. "Please step away from her."

Eliana took two more steps away from the now unconscious lady. One of the officers went to check on her to make sure she was still alive while another came to Eliana and cuffed her hands.

"I did not do anything wrong, why am I being cuffed?" Eliana asked, unable to stay silent anymore.

"You are a suspect, Miss Kim," the officer in charge said and Eliana frowned.

"I just got here but I am a suspect now? My car is over there," she nodded towards a red car by her right. "This is my bag…my shopping bag." They looked at the bag and went ahead to check its contents and found nothing but a shoe box and a purse inside.

"Please cooperate with us and you'll be free to go in no time," the one in charge said again. Although he said please, there was no hint of remorse in his tone. He looked at the other policeman and instructed, "Bring it."

"The lady is being taken to the hospital now, Sir," the one who had gone to check on the unconscious lady came and reported.

"Good," he replied.

Shortly later, a small pill was brought to him held with a tissue in hand and a bottle of water. "Drink this, Miss Kim, after that, you will have to wait a few minutes and we will decide if you are as innocent as you claim," the same officer said and Eliana's frown deepened.

"What are you insinuating officer?" She asked with a slightly raised voice. She didn't want to raise her voice on the law enforcers but they were making it very difficult for her. Not only was she accused of something she did not do, but she was also being fed a pill that could possibly be harmful to her.

"You will understand after taking the pill," he replied and took it from his subordinate.

"I will not drink that, I do not know what that would do to me. You are officers of the law, yet here you are forcing the citizens to take drugs they knew nothing of. Is this what is done now?" Eliana spoke through gritted teeth.

"It is only a few that are treated this way, Miss Kim, and you fall under those. We have noticed the abnormalities around you. How no one remembers you, yet they also never forget you. That is not normal, Miss Kim. Now open your mouth or you will be forced," he said in a threatening tone.

Eliana refused to open her mouth and be fed a drug she did not know, but it was forced into her mouth. She refused to swallow it and kept it in her mouth but it dissolved after five seconds. It was tasteless almost like water but she could smell garlic although she didn't taste any.

"You…" Eliana didn't know what to say to them after what they had done. She wanted to curse at them but doing that would only give them more reasons to keep her.

"Now you wait, after ten minutes, you will be set free," The officer said again.

Eliana could only glare at him and his subordinates. She drew in a deep breath to help keep her calm. After ten minutes she would be gone and hopefully forget her encounter with the bad cops.

"Sir, some of them have been confirmed to have a higher resistance to the pill, it may take longer than thirty minutes before the signs can be seen." The one who carried the pill informed him.

"That would mean we have an hour to wait here?" He asked and the junior officer nodded his head. "You will have to come with us. We can't wait here for that long," he said to Eliana who looked like she would kill him if she had her hands freed.

"What about my car and items?" She asked. She wouldn't be able to come back here to get her car because the nearest police station was far from it. Her items might get stolen too if left lying around carelessly like that.

"Get her car keys and her items, drive behind us," the one in charge ordered. If she was proven to be innocent, then they would have to compensate her for her losses which he would like to avoid.

***

"How could you be so careless?" Helios asked with his hand gripping the neck of the one who reported to him. He just got here after receiving the message from one of his Phantoms that the red-haired woman who caught his interest was held suspect and was given the pill that was used to expose all those who were not humans.

"Pardon my carelessness, My Lord," He pleaded but instead of being set free, his head was ripped from his body.

"Leave my sight," Helios growled.

Immediately, the body and head disappeared.

He watched as Eliana was forced into the police car and taken away. He hoped to be wrong about his assumption of her being more than a human because if she was found out, she would be killed by those hunters. It was very clever of the hunters to mix with the law enforcers, they would never be suspected until what happened with Eliana happened to whoever fell victim to them.

If Eliana was proven to be more than just a human, he would have those hunters killed and her taken away. But if she was not, then she would be set free and unharmed. He also wouldn't have to do anything to the hunters. He made himself invisible and followed the car as it drove away.