Old Friend

"Hunter, I know about your bond," Jade stated, her eyes fixed on the road as she carefully but quickly makes her way through the traffic of Skyhill.

"What -- what are you talking about?"

Jade turned to face him for a second before turning back to face the road, "Relax, I'm not going to report you or anything. Your demon and I go way back, I've known him since the day I turned, back in the BC"

'Is this true?'

[Yes]

'And you didn't say anything?'

[I can't just tell you everything I know randomly, it has to come up naturally]

'You are unbelievable'

"Wow, I always thought Waleed was a loner," Hunter said

"Waleed? Is that what he's calling himself now?"

"Yes"

"Well, Waleed wasn't a loner, he had lots of friends and allies ... And enemies"

"Was Merlin one of his enemies?" Hunter asked

Jade looked sideways and laughs, it seemed whatever memory she recalled must have been really funny, "He never met with Merlin, but Merlin despised him"

"Why?"

"The story is well-known and documented. They say one of Merlin's students fell in love with him and wanted to live forever with him. She met with Waleed who gave her a potion that would make her live forever. The student then added the potion to Merlin's drink and thus, making him stay young forever"

"But that's not what truly happened?"

"Well, there is some truth in the tale, you've seen Merlin recently haven't you?"

"Yes, the man barely looks a day over thirty," Hunter replied

"Exactly!"

"What happened then?" He asked

"It's a long story, perhaps another day. I wanted to ease you into all of this but I guess we can't always have what we want," she stated

"Yeah ... How did you know Waleed was bonded to me though?" Hunter asked

"Remember when I said he had friends and allies? He still does. He had a witch notify us once you two bonded"

"Us?"

"My partner and I"

"So what happened back there, why did the corpse move?"

"Because of Waleed, he was a necromancer --"

"So I accidentally used his powers," Hunter said before something hit him, "wait, isn't he a demon?"

"Please," she rolled her eyes, "before the 1400s there was no such thing as orders, a sprite could conjure, a fairy could be a necromancer, a witch could be a shifter, and so on. By the 1600s however, orders were introduced to the mystic world and after that, most people practiced and try to perfect whatever power that is said to be of their order"

"Does that mean I can conjure things and all that?"

"I can't say ... Waleed used to say 'There has never been a limit to anything. We are our own limits. It's then about breaking our limits and outgrowing ourselves to exceed that which we never knew existed'"

'Dude ...'

[Don't even say it, don't even think about saying it]

'Fine'

"Back to the corpse, is that a bad thing?" Hunter asked

"Depends ... You formed a link with her and then you banished her. If the link was broken before you sent her away, then it's fine, if not then ... We have to sever it quickly"

"So where are we going now?"

"To the Bureau,"

"What about the link?"

"We need to find a pure demon that can help with that and I don't know any that isn't a mischievous schemer"

"Wow ..." Hunter looked out through the window, he knew that he might die if the link isn't severed and yet he wasn't panicking. "What about Circe, you think she might know someone?"

"First of all, necromancy is a lost art and no one would believe you did it without any help. Secondly, Circe doesn't know about Waleed, only my partner, I, and the witch that notified me are aware of his return. And finally, Circe is the daughter of Hecate, a councilor. While I trust her with my life, I don't trust her with yours or Waleed's"

"But I thought she was the one who told you to take me in"

"My partner has been watching you since you joined the School of mysticism. Circe only heard about you after you were charged. She and I are friends so when she told me the agency got custody of you, I requested that she have me look over you"

Hunter looks at his hands thoughtfully, "what would you have done, had I not been acquitted?" He asked

"My partner and the witch, they were present in the council, they would have broken you out of there,"

"Two people would have busted me out of a building crawling with mystical beings that all want me dead," Hunter said to point out the absurdity of the plan.

Jade smiles, "I said only three of us know about you but I never said anything about how many others work for us"

"Oh ..."

"You see," Jade began, "I --"

Hunter suddenly felt the car swerving to the other side of the road. He turned to the driver's seat to find that Jade had lost her grip on the wheels, she just sat there, frozen.

Hunter wasted no time, quickly turning and taking control of the driving wheels. He moved the car to the side of the road before throwing his legs to the other side and stepping on the brakes, bringing the car to a stop.

"Hey," he said as he placed his hands on the side of her face but he quickly retracts after feeling how cold her skin was.

"You have to feed right? Take my blood"

[Wait ...]

"I'm fine --" She tried to say but she suddenly began to breathe more loudly

"Hey, it's fine," Hunter said as he placed his right hand behind her head and brought her mouth close to his neck.

"It's fine, I want you to do it," he assured.

Hunter felt a little sting as she sunk her teeth beneath his skin. There was no pain after that and he felt her cold skin turn warmer and warmer.

She retracted her teeth from his skin before using her thumb to wipe a drop of blood on the side of her lips.

"Thanks," she said softly

"It's fine," he said looking at the mark her teeth left on his skin through the mirror. Before his eyes, the wound heals, his skin smooth like a vampire didn't just pierce through it.

'That's new', Hunter thought

[That's me]

'Thanks'

[Sure. Next time do not feed her your blood]

'Why not?'

[My blood -- our blood is special. Jade was once addicted to it. No other blood could quench her thirst, it wasn't the best of sights]

'What? Why didn't you say anything?'

[I did ... You didn't listen]

"Is he talking to you?" Jade asked

"What?"

"You've been quiet for some time now, is Waleed talking to you?"

[I was telling you about the link with the corpse from earlier]

"Yes, he was telling me about the link with the corpse from earlier"

"What about it?" Jade asked

[It's not broken]

"It's not broken"

'Wait, What?!'

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