The Partner

Chapter 1

The blare of music and smells of sweat and alcohol fill the air, greeting Kenai Faulkner as he enters the club. He has been to a few of these nitty gritty places before, and always hates it. He always did back in high school and college when he went with his friends, but now even more so whenever work drags him into these party scenes.

Most of the patrons have no idea what Kenai is, but he does see some flashes of realization over a few of their faces. The eructa don't mistake him for what he is as he makes his way through the clutters of people crowding the bar and dancefloor, looking for the suspects. All decked out in his black leather armor, they know he's from the Shield Guild, an international military with two purposes to serve; to protect all eructa and keep Kenai's world hidden from the humans. And his world consists of anything and everything having to do with what the Homo sapiens call monsters, Kenai included. His world is what brings him out to the very human city of Jacksonville tonight. Some cities have a majority of one group of eructa, like St. Petersburg which is crawling with vampires or Tampa that's basically run by demons. And those clever, dirt-smelling eructa are the reason he's out here tonight.

For the last few nights a group of demons have been on a killing spree, and not just any demons. Guayus, also known as soul-eaters. Now the Guild is here to put an end to their crimes. Suddenly his partner, Raven, comes up beside him. "Have you got anything?" He asks her.

She shakes her head, Raven's mocha eyes scanning the club as she speaks. "Not yet. I'll check the dance floor and you wanna take the bar? Finding them will probably go faster that way."

"The last thing they ate were hayek demons. Finding them won't be the problem, but finding exactly where they are will. There are tons of places for them to hide in this city." He points out.

She nods and walks towards the clumps of people grinding and dancing. "Then we better get cracking."

Kenai goes to the bar, looking over all of the customers drinking, searching for any sign of red or black hair, an identifier for hayeks. He spots a female red head downing a beer. His eyes flash to her open mouth, looking for fangs. Hayeks, unlike vampires, cannot retract their fangs. They are constantly elongated, making it harder for them to conceal them. Thankfully Kenai's only grow when he's hungry or in a lot of pain.

The girl has no fangs, so he moves on. Then, there's a commotion coming from the back of the club near the dance floor. Kenai looks over and sees two dark-haired individuals running out the back from Raven who is in full pursuit. Got them. Go out the front. Raven commands as she dashes from the room. His partner is a fukewe demon and has many special abilities, one of which being able to push her thoughts into other people's minds. Being her partner and all, Kenai has grown used to her mental voice inside his mind.

Kenai takes off for the front of the club, planning to cut them off around the block. When he hits the crowded sidewalk outside, the familiar salty air and humidity greets him. The humid air almost matches the sweaty atmosphere inside the club. Kenai remembers when he was first assigned to his troop in Florida. The heat and humidity used to kill him since he had only known Missouri's dry moderate weather. The occasional harsh winter or intense summer was never too much to handle, but the constant heat used to get to him. Now he's grown accustomed to it and can handle activity outside in the heat with his heavy armor.

He takes off down the street, hoping he's going the right way. He waits to draw out his weapon, not wanting to freak out any civilians. He runs all the way down the long city block and then turns. This area is less crowded so as he approaches the next turn, Kenai slips out a long, silver blade. This should do the trick. He runs around the second corner, slamming right into something. Kenai falls to the concrete, scrambling to grab his blade. He looks up to find himself staring into the eyes of one of the suspects. He grins, flashing Kenai a sight of his long fangs. Shit. He jumps into action, getting to his feet to tower over the demon. Before the guy can grab him, Kenai slices off his head. His head falls to the ground with a soft, wet sound and the body slides back.