Emilia, Vijay, and Liam remained unmoved in the living room.

Jayden stirred slightly and groaned on the couch. He rose to his feet and walked to the door.

"Answer door. Answer the bloody door," Jayden muttered to himself.

Emilia rose to her feet to stop him, but Liam stopped her with a look. Liam raised his hand, and a butcher knife flew into his hand.

"I need to learn how to do that," Emilia whispered to herself.

Liam smiled at his daughter. "You will."

Vijay looked around the room as if debating on where to hide. Emilia motioned for Vijay to go behind the couch as they heard Jayden unlock the door. It slammed open, and Jayden, possibly, fell to the floor.

"Oh crap," a teenage voice laughed. "You need to help him up."

"Why me?" Another teenage voice asked.

"Because you were the one who slammed the door open in his face. It wasn't cool."

There was a loud sigh before the second teenager spoke. "Listen, dude, I don't think it is my fault. Look at him. He is half-standing as it is. That Bresal dude totally did a number on his ass."

"Uhm-yeah. That is the reason we decided to show our fuckin' lovely faces here, Troy."

Troy muttered something unintelligible. "You really suck sometimes, Alphie. I mean, I know it has been a few thousand years, and you remain the coolest asshole I know. But, sometimes you really suck."

Liam looked at Emilia before shrugging. "Is there someone I should be welcoming in my flat?" He called.

Emilia's eyebrows went together with the amount of shuffling she heard in the hall, followed by a, "I fuckin' got him okay." She almost started to laugh but caught herself when two teenagers, probably around 14-16 years old, walked into the room supporting Jayden between them. They would have been identical, apart from one styling his golden hair in a mini-mohawk and the other having a tight buzz around his head and a mop of golden curls sitting on the top of his head.

"Hello!" The one with golden curls greeted them. "My name is Alphie. I am the humble mod."

"No, you aren't." The mini-mohawk countered with a roll of his eyes. "I'm Troy. We're the mods from the Fuck Yeah, Monster Hunters Guild. No need to throw the knife. We aren't here to start a fight."

"Sorry for the fright," Alphie sighed. "We had to use some old magic to get this guy to open the door, but now golden-Troy here doesn't want to overwhelm this guy's circuits to get him back to the couch."

Emilia tilted her head at them. "How nice of you two. So, you two are the mods?"

Troy flashed her a winning smile as he dumped Jayden on the couch. Alphie fell to the floor under the weight.

"Living and breathing." Troy bowed. "We didn't think you'd answer our call, so we came here."

Emilia nodded her head. "That was wise. Y'all left me with some dead weight here."

"Jayden?" Alphie gasped. "He is one of our best!"

Emilia scoffed as her nose wrinkled.  "He is going to die. The guy looked like he never fought a vampire before and then got possessed by some creature—"

Alphie raised a finger. "Uhmm-but, did he?"

Emilia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I was here to see it."

"Yeah," Vijay added hoarsely, rising from his hiding place behind the couch. "I saw it too."

"Oh shit, Alph, it's the watcher!" Troy clapped his hands together. "Dude, you should totally join our guild. We are about to become unionized members of the Hunters Guild. But, that's only after miss-pretty-thing here gets off her lazy ass to go take care of a monster."

Emilia opened her mouth to respond, but Alphie raised another finger at her, cutting off her speech.

"Before you say it." Alphie smiled. "We have already wired you your payment from last night's hunt."

"Listen." Emilia snatched the card Troy was handing to Vijay and ripped it in half. "They're a scam, don't sign that. And, mods, I'm not sure if I can handle this mission anymore. That Bresal guy is intense."

Liam leaned forward. "But, we now have a spell to stop him from taking over your mind."

"So?" Emilia shrugged. "Look at what he did to Vijay without even being present in the room.  Normal weapons won't stop that thing.  Also, we don't know what he wants. What is he doing with all that power? The guy is connected to Bifrost. What if he kidnapped all those girls?"

Alphie nodded his head as Emilia talked while Troy watched her with his chin on his hand. The two looked at each other before Alphie motioned for Troy to speak.

"Valid points. But, let's not forget that Benjamin is a wanker. We brought you some fun toys.  And, Jayden here might be able to answer some of these questions." Troy smiled with a small wave of his hand and a shrug.

"Spoiler!" Alphie leaned in. "That guy totally kidnapped those girls."

Vijay shook his head and hoarsely whispered. "Not a spoiler, dude. We already figured that was the case."

Alphie tilted his head back and forth while pressing his lips together. "I think it is a little bit of a spoiler.  Did you know we brought new weapons?"

Vijay shook his head, rasping out again. "That's a secret, not a spoiler.  I think this whole time we thought, oh shit, what is this guy doing with these girls to get all this power."

Troy placed a hand on Alphie's back before speaking. "Dude, rest the voice. I think that we all can agree that we have provided much-needed information and so are welcomed into the planning part of this mission warmly."

Emilia looked at her dad to Vijay.  Vijay shrugged and sat back down.  She crossed her arms and tilted her head.  "Bringing weapons and stating the obvious doesn't make you welcome."

"Fair.  You need to be convinced about our abilities." Alphie sighed, rising to his feet and motioning towards Troy. "Just a second. We need to adjust this big guy right here."

The two moved Jayden into a sitting position before Troy gently slapped Jayden on his cheek.

"You did a good job, big guy." Troy smiled.

"What did he do?" Liam asked. Emilia turned to look at her father, who was now leaning forward in wonder. "I definitely can feel a small shift in his energy.  Now, I'm intrigued about the weapons.  Emilia, this could be fun."

Emilia rolled her eyes and shook her head.  Vijay noisily sipped his tea.

Aphie nodded. "Yeah, getting his energy balanced again after what he just did and then the almost dying last night thing will take a little while. Fantastic job keeping him alive, Emilia. We wouldn't have been able to get another guy like this for a while."

Troy snorted and laughed. "That's an understatement. Remember the last guy we tried doing this with? He literally had to be institutionalized."

Alphie frowned as his eyes furrowed together.  "I try not to think about. It sometimes makes me feel guilty."

"Really?" Troy asked, looking at Alphie in wonder. "You sometimes amaze me."

Alphie blushed slightly and shrugged. "I know."

Emilia slammed her hands on the table. "You guys are less annoying as robotic voices. Now, tell me something useful, or I am not going!"

Troy and Alphie stared at her in wonder for a second before sighing in unison.

"Just give me a second," Troy muttered. "It has been a while since we've had to activate someone's memories in a projection format."

"Or, should we now consider it Bluetooth format?" Alphie contemplated aloud.

Troy nodded.  "That makes more sense with it going to the TV."

"You can do that?" Liam smiled. He clasped his hands in front of him in gleeful anticipation.

Vijay looked amongst everyone before sighing into his tea.  He reached forward to grab the pad of paper and pen just in case.  

"Well," Alphie started. "The short answer is, yes. The long answer is that we always try to recruit someone who can infiltrate a creature's mind if the creature decides to possess them. That's why we never taught him to defend himself."

Emilia pressed her lips together. "That could easily put the person's partner in danger."

Alphie waved her comment away. "Oh, dear Emilia. We all know death is a possibility and completely natural."

Troy snicked.  "Unless cursed by a witch."

"Wow," Emilia whispered.

"But, we don't want you to die," Troy added with a smile. "Jayden is ready to show us."

Liam waved his hand to close the blinds. "Let's play it."

Alphie motioned towards the TV, and it turned on to a static buzz. The static continued for a few moments before it began to focus. A room with cement walls slowly came into focus. Emilia noted a few vampires walking around. In the corner, four women were clumped together.

"Can we get the video to pause and focus?" Emilia asked.

"Jayden," Troy whispered. "Focus on those girls."

"Okay," Jayden replied. 

The image of the women became a little bit larger, and the faces became clear. Vijay pulled out his phone beside her. He tapped away for a few moments before nudging Emilia. She took his phone and looked down. The women on the TV were four of the missing women.

"Is the girl you wanted to ask the vampires about there?" Emilia asked.

"No," Jayden replied. "Could not locate. No memory. More missing women, but not in this room. Being has a deal with vampires. Unsure of the location of other missing women.  Sister probably dead."

Emilia winced and pressed her lips together as her heart tightened. "I'm sorry."

Alphie looked at her and shook his head. "Keep scanning," he instructed.

The image changed to a slow scan of the room. Emilia noted two entry points into the room. It did not seem like the vampires were there as guards. Instead, they seemed to be monitoring something on a table. The vampires said something to each other, but no sound came from the TV.

"Sorry guys," Troy sighed. "We couldn't get the sound worked out."

A door on the far left opened, and a white-headed vampire brought in a girl. She had nearly black hair and tanned skin.

Jayden began to wiggle in his chair, causing Emilia's eyebrows to furrow.

They watched as they dropped the girl at Bresal's feet. The white-haired vampire said a few words over his shoulder. The vampires spoke for a few moments before the white-haired vampire took Bresal's hand. He made it hold a finger and brought the girl's hand up. The girl's head fell to the side, but she did not struggle.

"They almost drained her dry," Liam commented, gaining a grunt of agreement from everyone in the room.

The vampire forced the ring onto the girl's hand. The girl let out a silent scream; a blinding light whited out the screen for a few seconds before returning to normal. Vijay coughed on his tea. A white husk now slumped towards the floor where the girl once stood.

Emilia felt tears begin to prick on the side of her eyes as she watched the white-haired vampire drag the body away. He opened a door on the far right; shadowed outlines of white feet peeked out as he threw the body inside.

The white-haired vampire walked over to a table and placed the ring on it. Emilia bit her lip as she watched the table begin to glow.

"We can stop it there," Troy whispered, placing a hand on Jayden.

The TV went black, and Jayden slumped back. Troy stroked Jayden's hair before placing a pillow behind his head.

Troy turned to address Liam. "He will be sleeping for a while but should be okay."

Alphie turned to Emilia and tilted his head. "Would you like to re-assess the idea of doing nothing because you're afraid to die?"

Emilia pressed her lips together and nodded. "Do you two have a plan?"

Alphie and Troy looked at each other before shrugging. Vijay nudged Emilia before putting his rocks on the table. Liam spread a map of London on the table.

"Wait until I put the wards up," Liam ordered.

Emilia watched her father rise to walk around the flat.  Liam made small movements with his hands while muttering words.

"The best we got is this sword and to use the information Jayden pulled from Bresal to infiltrate the final room." Alphie shrugged while placing the hilt of a sword on the table.  "Vijay can monitor who is coming at you on the way to him."

Troy cleared his throat. "Listen, we know this is going to be a tough one. But that's why we are here as extra eyes. We can't do much on the fighting side of it, but we are sorta helpful."

Emilia sighed and placed her head in her hands. I should never have continued being a hunter.

Her mind began to rush with a variety of scenarios making her begin to sweat. This could be the moment where she died. There were too many variables, and she still would be going into a situation mostly blind. She could prep herself for the vampires, but what about this other creature. And that little girl? And the red-headed lady?

A hand fell on her shoulder, making Emilia jump. She looked up to meet her father's warm gaze.

"You can do this," Liam stated with a tone that cooled her nerves. "Vijay, let's see what we got."

Vijay nodded, and the stones glowed. They hovered over the map making the teenage knuckleheads clap with glee.  

***

Dating Advice from a Hunter:

This would be a good time to talk about dating lesser-known creatures.  For instance, a person might be afraid to date a minotaur.  These creatures have such a bad reputation for just looking mean.  They're the nicest guys and are always happy to help you move big things.  Just don't be that girl who makes a joke about them being full of bullshit.  Apparently, that's a disrespectful joke that can get you dumped.  Or, at least, that's what I heard.

Happy Hunting!

E.V.

***

Chapter WC: 2,287

Story WC: 19,546

So, back to the title of this part... Is Jayden useless?  Hmm...