“Where we going boss?” Mason asked as he and Felix made their way up a sheer rock face, pebbles falling loose and tumbling to the ground some 50 feet down.

  “I told you not to call me that.”

  Felix’s words didn’t have much malice behind them, this was very much reminiscent of his days with Leo, who’d always called him ‘Lix’ no matter how many times he protested.

  “Me sorry, it force of habit.” The golem replied in his rather unorthodox manner of speaking.

  At this point, the day was beginning to turn to night once more, the odd pair had ventured forward for what must have been close to a dozen hours. A few casual conversations and strategy reviews were had, but nothing more in depth was shared between them.

  Truth be told, Felix was partially deflecting from the initial question, he had no clue where they were going.

  They were in a tough position. While he would’ve liked to lay low and maybe find some place to hide out until their senses had honed in on the portal's approximate location a bit, this was not a good position for it, the death of that hunter no doubt compromising the area.

  Even with what had to be a considerable distance put between him and Ven’s body, Felix still felt a sense of foreboding, who knew how many tricks the humans had up their sleeves to track down Monsterkin they deemed particularly threatening.

  Too lost in thought, Felix’s right foot slipped from beneath him. He would’ve slid face first down the incline if not for Mason’s rapid response, the golem clinching a hold to his wrist and giving him the time to regain a foothold.

  “Thanks Mason.” Felix’s acknowledgment was met with a nod of the head from his rocky companion.

  Already the partnership was paying dividends for Felix’s fair face, which may have looked a lot rougher had he been subject to gravity and friction's intentions just then.

  After reaching the top of the cliff they found themselves taking a brief break, more for Felix’s sake than Mason’s. The golem had seemingly unlimited stamina and a much greater affinity for climbing than the vampire.

  During this moment Felix reflected on his other team up since arriving in the human world. Dinah was presumably out there moving closer and closer to her sister.

  It created a feeling of envy inside him, he would love nothing more than to try and find Leo and Emily, but he didn’t know whether they were still alive, let alone anywhere remotely close to his location. Ultimately the best thing he could do was keep surviving and praying they did the same.

  The sky had darkened, the last light of the sun dipping below the horizon. The time for the first full night had come.

  Felix took another quick look at his pendant which was still its natural blue colour, indicating no imminent threats were around. He signalled to Mason that they were about to go on the move once more with a nod, the golem was surprisingly a fast learner when it came to subtle tactical gestures.

  “Alright Mason we’re going to try and move through this area as fast and quiet as possible, okay?”

  “Sure, but…”

  Mason hesitated for a moment unsure of whether to speak his mind or not.

  “It’s fine, this is a partnership, remember? You can speak freely as much as you want.”

  Reassured, the golem spoke.

  “If we no fight, we not get stronger. We be in more danger if we weak later in Trek.”

  Felix exhaled conflictedly in response.

  The logic was sound, while they could play it safe as possible and avoid conflict, they’d never gain more practical experience or have the chance to develop Astral Techniques, which only came about in life or death situations; sparring or training wasn’t any proper substitute.

  This would endanger them closer to the end of the Trek where stronger humans and hostile Monsterkin were much more commonplace, the weaklings being weeded out as the month went on.

  At the same time Felix was wary of becoming a bloodthirsty battle seeker, he’d seen those types back in Hallow Haven, most of them ended up losing limbs, organs and body functions on their Trek, even if they survived, the wounds were so severe vampiric regeneration was unable to repair them. And that was just the physical scars, the mental toll couldn’t be put into words.

  Although…he'd already been in three of those life or death situations, the band-aid was ripped off. If it was just in moderation than perhaps…

  “Alright Mason, you have a good point. We’ll travel carefully, but if there’s a fight we think we can win, let's go for it.”

  Felix’s response was met with an affirmative sound from his stone companion.

  “P-please, Felix, whatever you do, don't pick fights with the humans or other monsterkin.” His mother’s voice echoed in his mind.

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  “I’m sorry mom, I don’t think I can keep that promise.” Felix thought to himself, the ever present war between his strategic head and bleeding heart raging on once more.

  ————————

  It was only half an hour or so before the duo had stumbled into another wide open area, a craggy spot with a number of large rocks and bushes darting the area. So far they hadn’t come across any threats, but that was about to change for the worst.

  Felix’s pendant began to shine red, but not the same hue as when he encountered Mason, no, this was a much more intense red colour. There was also something in the air that made Felix’s body shudder and beads of sweat form under his brow, a powerful presence that made it hard to breathe.

  Mason could feel it as well, he didn’t even need the signal they had discussed for when to camouflage, he immediately hit the ground and curled his body together as a defensive mechanism. Felix slid behind him, back against the golem’s disguised form. He could feel his heart pounding at incomprehensible speed, this was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.

  Slowly and warily he slightly peeked to the left side of Mason’s body. There were two figures heading in their direction, one was a red haired man with a scruffy beard, his posture was lackadaisical and bordering on something close to annoyance.

  The other was what could be described as a giant, in fact if his compatriot wasn’t so clearly a human he’d have his doubts. This one had dark skin and was clutching in a singular hand a war hammer that was nearly the same size he was. There was no mistaking it, this was who was giving off that unbelievably threatening aura.

  “With all do respect sir, this is a massive waste of fucking time. You’re trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

  The ginger bearded man broke the silence while scratching his chin.

  “Besides you’re supposed to be over in Argentina right now, I doubt the High Priest or other Inquisitors would appreciate you breaking rules just to avenge some weirdo like-”

  The ginormous man reached out with his free hand and gripped the other by his shirt, lifting him off the ground with the greatest of ease, his feet dangling. Whatever the man was talking about died in his throat.

  “Lionel Dubois…I don’t know if you have the same impression of me that most do, that I’m the silly Inquisitor who eats a lot and is jolly, the one who you don’t take seriously. Let me tell you something, I get mad too and what happened to Sven has me steaming. You probably don’t know how that feels, you’re the slacker who’s fine with just getting by on the bare minimum. How many of the order actually call you a comrade I wonder? How many would seek to avenge you? Because that’s what Sven was to me, a comrade, someone worth avenging.”

  The massive hand unclenched from Lionel’s shirt dropping him flat on his ass. The red haired man looked up to his superior with a frustrated helplessness, teeth gnashing.

  Felix couldn’t stop his body from trembling in unbridled terror. This was one of the Inquisitors.

  Sven…Ven…the realization struck him with intense impact to a degree he felt like vomiting. One of the most powerful humans alive had it out for him already.

  “Where do you get off doing this?! This area is my designation for tonight damn it! Sven died in some woods twenty miles away so why the fuck are you here? The killer could have gone in at least five different directions, fuck, maybe they’re still there for all we know!”

  Any composure the man named Lionel had was deteriorating rapidly, choosing to fight back the only way he could, with words.

  “Intuition.” The Inquisitor responded simply. When all he got back was a puzzled look, he continued.

  “I’m not quite as sharp as Ed or Rutger when it comes to these things, but the longer you do this the better feeling you get for anticipating the unseen moves, a sixth sense if you will.”

  “That’s gotta be a load of crap, I’ve been at it for nine years and not once have I had that feeling.”

  “That says more about you than anything. Face it Lionel, in those nine years since you joined you’ve gone nowhere, no desire to improve or excel beyond the expected quota of one monster a night.”

  The large Inquisitor paused for a second as he noticed the absolutely murderous gaze Lionel was giving him, yet he continued soon after undeterred.

  “In that time Rebecca, Juan and Claudia made Inquisitor when they were previously foot soldiers like you. Yoko’s apprentices, Ben and a bunch of others went from not even being in the order to top prospects. Be honest, we both know that you’ll be lapped by some of this year's rookies by the end of the month.”

  It was a deconstruction so thorough and brutal that Lionel could only stutter half sentences in response. Felix himself was beginning to panic, particularly when it came to whether that sixth sense the Inquisitor claimed to have would reveal him and Mason’s current location.

  “We’re not alone.”

  Those three words from the Inquisitor chilled the air.

  Felix’s mind was awash with panic. Should they run, fight, plead? No…none of those things were going to save them. He remained frozen, prepared for the end to come right there.

  A flash of motion whizzed over their heads directly towards the humans. With one smooth motion the massive man’s free hand intercepted around the throat of a monster with a winged lizard’s body and a bird's head. A Cockatrice.

  The Cockatrice thrashed violently, attempting to peck at the arm of its captor to little success. With what looked to be a very slight effort, the Inquisitor squeezed the neck of the beast causing its head to rocket off impossibly high in a spurt of blood. He did it as if he was simply uncorking a wine bottle.

  Now grasping the headless and lifeless body, he gave it a light toss in the air before striking it with his war hammer. What happened to the carcass could be described as complete atomization, only droplets of blood with no solid matter puddling on the ground beneath him.

  “You’re right about one thing, I’m not supposed to be here, so you can count this one towards your own tally.”

  The Inquisitor spoke in a casual tone like nothing had happened.

  The realization dawned on Felix, this was why they were so comfortable letting their guard down for a chat where Monsterkin could be prowling, so long as the man with the hammer was present there was no such thing as a threat. He swallowed the lump in his throat as quietly as possible, still waiting to see if him and Mason were next.

  “Since that’s your precious one kill you can give up for the night, or maybe, just maybe, what I’ve said will be the boot in the ass you need.”

  The Inquisitor placed the hammer in a clasp on his back, his weapons large size not seeming to impede him.

  “I wanted to see if I could at least find the killer in half an hour. I don't think I can play hookie any longer from my post and get away with it, so I will leave the area in yours and Callum’s hands now as was planned.”

  When the giant man seemed prepared to depart, the red haired one spoke up once more as he returned to a vertical base.

  “H-how do you know it wasn’t the one you just killed that did it?” Lionel’s voice contained some sense of exasperation.

  “I would've felt more fulfilled if it was.”

  It wasn’t an explanation, it was a statement that brokered no argument. As if to punctuate it, the cockatrice’s head finally landed with a splat on the hard earth next to them.

  The Inquisitor raised his hand and uttered a word. “Procul.” And then in a flash of light he was gone. The oppressive aura in the air also vanished and Felix must’ve breathed for the first time in minutes.

  Even after three straight up fights and hours of travel this was easily the most endangered he had felt since arriving in this world and it wasn’t close.

  “Fucking Biggs, bastard!”

  The man named Lionel, now on his own, lashed out, kicking the giblets of the shattered cockatrice skull.

  “And that Irish asshole! Where the fuck is he? Leaving me here to take this bullshit on my own!”

  The profanity ridden tantrum surprised Felix. With Mason it wasn’t too shocking, while all monsterkin were 18 years of age, some species matured slower than others. This man looked like he was at least thirty if not older.

  Regardless, Felix was ready to get out of the area as fast as possible. His companion had other ideas.

  “This is fight we can win now that scary human gone!” Mason rumbled in a whisper next to him.

  Mason wasn’t dumb per se, but he was rather simple. Felix immediately realized that even if Lionel was someone they could beat, it would make it obvious to that Inquisitor his hunch was right and the same Monsterkin that killed Ven was also involved here.

  Unfortunately the thought never crossed through Mason’s core.

  Before he could relay to Mason not to, the golem was already on his feet and attracting the attention of the bearded human.

  “The Fuck?!” Lionel reacted in shock to the sudden appearance of a Golem previously hidden in plain sight.

  Whether he wanted it or not, this was a fight Felix was going to have to take.