Devil hunting chronicles of the impossible city.

Volume 3 Prologue part IV The hunting day

The ambient was tense, due to her declaration the hunters knew this was not gonna be the usual discussion. Abram understood it was a big deal but whenever he looked at Aurora and Cao he could see even they were feeling anxious now. It was inevitable sooner or later they were meant to leave the inner circle, the war they had decided on was onwards towards the rulers of the city, but to take a step forward even now still felt impossible

''We have made great strides this year both in getting more people and weapons to spare, as well as having a strong number of well-trained hunters that have shown their stuff even against demons repeatedly, the maze to has grown and I'm sure all of you have felt your own demon strengthening lately, but we are seeing diminishing returns. The well has gone empty finding demons on the streets is pointless now. We need to confront the real demons of this city.''Emilia was rather happy as she spoke, it looked like she was quite proud of their achievements thus far.

"I have been doing my part too, it was brought to try to rebuild our own intelligence network, we will still need to rely on the Louise information agency, but we have our own ear and people in all the city districts now, we are not blind or helpless, still a long time to go, but we have a strong foot now and multiple safe houses in every area, if we need to move through the city now we can." Aurora put a map of the city on the table showing multiple dots, if those were hideouts she really built a web of them in every ring.

"The political situation is to our advantage as well, with the police department crumbling and every family being on a tug of war with Louise's new family, they are all in a cold war of sorts, which doesn't help their ability to import human sacrifices has gone cold, it is only a temporary state of affairs some will get aggressive soon, so till that happens we can move with ease, all the families have bigger matters to worry about and they will try to pin the blame on the other families."Cao moved around the table towards a chalkboard that had photos and names on it, they were divided into each of the family's representatives.

"I can say my dad would not let a chance to get into a fight if he felt he was wronged, before I ran away home they were already planning strategies to deal with invasions from the other districts, and I have a feeling is the same on each ring I think everyone knows sooner or later someone is gonna break the peace."Captain Rosario spoke calmly she sure wasn't keeping the fact that she was a part of one of the families a secret at all, she was rather casual about it. Still, Abram couldn't tell why she was willing to help to hunt her own family, but it was not in his nature to pry. She looked like a rather gentle lady if he didn't know already she had gone on a hunt before it would be hard to believe she had taken lives as well as the rest of them.

"Won't killing their people make them get even more dangerous, if they start going at each other we could be to blame if a war does start in the city," Collins spoke concerned, it made sense, a gang war will always drag civilians along. Emilia laughed at his concern.

"They are not so foolish as to jump to conclusions that fast boy, a war would only make things easier for us, we can hit them on the back while they set their aims at each other, don't forget that we are not here to protect the city folks, that is beyond our means."Collins didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but he had no real comeback at that moment.

"There is something that still concerns me, what about the anti-devil corps, they have left us to our devices for now, but if we pick a fight with the families will they just let us, is it wise to bring any more attention to us."Abram changed the subject and it looked like everyone stayed in silence for a moment, Aurora sighed.

"Is a risk we have to take, is possible that right now they don't consider us enough of a threat but that's an assumption, they know our location and yet  they are keeping our existence mostly as a secret, they can change their minds at any moment, we need to be very careful, that is another reason why hunting on the family districts is our best move, the corps has authority in all of the city, but even they can be pushed back by the families, you may not know it but the high circle are the people the families hate the most, they hate corps even more than each other."Aurora still looked unsure, but all of them knew it, after they had seen the synthetic demons the police had, the thought that they knew nothing of the corps was clear even to Aurora. The anti-devil corps were their most dangerous enemy, and they hoped to evade them as much as they could.

"Well its good to see everyone is very talkative today, I get that the risk is high but we cannot evade it any longer, to begin with, I will have you visit the upper districts to get familiar with the place, we will be working as well with the representative of Louise offices on each district as they still have the upper hand in intelligence, we will assign your position. To start Mr.Abram you will be going to Villa Blanca and you Miss Roasario will accompany him it is your birthplace Miss Rosario so you will know your way the best, the two of you haven't worked together yet so may as well get used to it." Emilia gave her instructions, but Abram was just looking at Captain Rosario he had no idea if they could even get along, she just waved back smiling kindly. 

"One step at a time, for now, we will learn of our future hunting grounds, this meeting is adjourned."