Friday,

February 2, 2012,

12: 00 PM

A phone ringing pierces the heavy silence of a spacious, dim room on the ground floor of the boarding house. The ringtone slips under the crack of the sturdy weapons shelves on the far wall, opposite from the library portion of the basement. A button disguised in the wood of the shelf holds a secret, similar to the hidden nooks for quick weapons at the demon traps. The basement is where Valli holds all Hunter supplies; weapons, research — an interrogation room. He doesn't often step foot into the hidden room behind the basement, he hasn't needed to. However, this is where he finds himself recently, standing silently in the corner of a decent-sized room (compared to the generous bathroom of a business). He recalls when his father and grandfather built this space, how they packed the walls full of various weapons for all the creatures they knew of.

Grandfather Cerulli promised it was only for creatures that came inside uninvited or untrustworthy upon first meeting, a space where they could determine whether they met harm or not. He had forced Valli to promise not to torment creatures, as he heard of other hunters doing — not unless it is needed for safety and he is certain the monster is just that, a monster. At the time, Valli was young and still had his sight. He remembers the bleak dark walls of layers of steel, iron, and raw metals, buried under two thick red brick walls and a thin layer of quick-dry cement. There was a chair added, stainless steel with iron cuffs at the armrest and feet shackles in the middle of the room. He knows his father placed a long table on the right wall, and piled it full of dead preachers' blood, holy water, and tools for demons and more powerful monsters.

The retiree only recalls the time that this room was used since the house was built, since he was old enough to comprehend. A Siren had chosen the nearby town as a hunting ground, luring men and women in with her beauty and sultry voice only for her to devour them in a back alley and leave the body behind to be found. Grandfather Cerulli and Steven (Valli's father) captured her before she could take a third victim, trapped her in this very room, and had to resort to terminating the creature. She loved killing and feeding on humans, found joy in it, and wouldn't listen to a word they said.

She was ranting about how the men's wives and the child she could smell would taste, taunting the men as she was under the impression they wouldn't kill her. In the middle of a graphic description of what she wanted to do with Valli (a child she hadn't even seen) when Grandfather Cerulli's machete sliced through her vocal cords — interrupting her cruel and nasty words with a gurgle of blood and a thump of her head dropping to the floor.

Since then, the room is only used for mere questioning. James had killed an angry ghoul once, a few years before the attack that stole Valli's eyesight. Afterward, Valli decided to simply stay on the property to avoid harming himself without his sight. He isn't pleased to be standing inside the room, listening to Addy go through question after question for the tenth time in two weeks.

Adam is settled in the chair, shackled to it tightly. His ankles and wrist have begun to bleed from his wiggling and squirming, but the pain doesn't process in his possessed mind. The moment he was stabbed, the demon within ended the act of being Adam. While he was confused about the trap, he quickly recovered and started throwing insults, curses, and taunting mocking words towards Valli. Addy managed to toss a silencing spell on the creature to shut his mouth, helping Valli drag the fighting demon into the basement where they currently stand. The Witch hadn't left the house, adamant about staying in the room Valli reserved for her next to his bedroom. She isn't comfortable leaving her nephew alone, especially with a demon.

Upon receiving the call of a demon, she cursed Kane mentally for leaving so abruptly at the news of another hunter visiting. She considers it a cowardly move, a Hunter of monsters running because another human will appear. She understands anxiety and has experienced it herself. But Kane left Valli completely alone with the knowledge a hunter had a run-in with a group of Demons, he should've stayed and made certain the man was safe. That Valli wasn't going to be dealing with a possessed man on his own — which is exactly what happened. Addy had to teleport to the house rather than drive or take her horse, an action that had cost a good amount of her power.

For two weeks, they had been trying to pry information out of the demon, merely gaining that his name was Jergan. For the most part, he seemed entirely too interested in Valli. He completely ignores the beautiful black witch before him to stare and taunt Valli in the corner, listening carefully with his arms crossed and expression ice cold. After the second day, Addy snapped and backhanded the demon, demanding answers with purple eyes and heatless blue flaming hands. Like the Siren, the demon knows about this family, this house. Adam's mind provides information freely for the creature, forcing his hands into the memories and facts about Valli, Addy, and their peaceful nature. He is under the impression they won't risk harming Adam's physical body, if they did, they'd be slowly killing a friend.

Possessed humans don't feel, not fully. They can't control their bodies, stuck in their mind like an animal trapped in a cage. The demon takes complete control and buries itself within their mind to be able to act as the flesh attire they captured, to get into places, or simply cause chaos in the human's name. Essentially, it's an extreme case of stolen identity — only with the added form of an evil creature riding inside you and using your body for whatever it wants to do. However, the only way to save a possessed human is to exorcize the demon before the creature can ruin the body from the inside out. Any damage to the body with special tools can harm a demon, yet the chance of killing the human is always in the way. Addy and Valli don't want to hurt Adam, but they need information about why the demon came to a hunter's boarding house and is so curious about Valli.

"Anyone gonna get that? It's getting annoying." The demon, Jergan's eyebrows jump, an annoying smirk on his lips. Adams's green eyes snap to a cruel inky black, faint smoke wisps in them, the gaze flicking from the glaring woman to the stone-still blind man in the corner. When neither made a move to the door, he huffed a laugh. "Aw, c'mon now, if you ain't gonna answer it, at least answer my questions. I'm a little curious, ya know."

"Curious about what?" Addy responds instantly, the scowl on her lips should have been a warning. The woman is losing her patience and if she doesn't get answers, she may just forget Adam is alive somewhere behind those smokey midnight eyes. She never really liked him anyway. Valli would be upset, but he would also understand. This is nothing new.

Jergan laughs, shaking his head, and ignores the inquiry. "Lady, you're not scary."

Valli smirks, "Not yet, she isn't."

The phone stops ringing, leaving the house silent for a mere minute before it begins again. Addy huffs, growing disgruntled by the demon and now the repetitive noise. Sternly demanding, leaving no refusal room. Looking over her shoulder, Valli is patiently waiting for her order of what to do. She briefly remembers when her nephew would be taking over, when he was confident in his ability to hunt and get information. There was a time in his life when Valli was one of the best hunters she knew of, she had seen him take on monster after monster, saw him splattered in blood, and take on three vampires at the same time.

It leaves an ache in her chest to see him docile and taking orders, even from her. Since the accident, he hasn't been out on a case and hasn't even tried to leave the property in six years. While he isn't held back by losing his sight, he fears going into a case and being a weak link. He's rusty, and his blindness wouldn't allow him to reach the potential he has — at least he thinks so. She wants to see him be who he is, strong and confident. However, she is well aware he forgot how he was once he opened his eyes all those years ago, opened them to a blank screen of black when he should've seen his worried Aunt standing over him. This passive and patient Valli isn't new, she has witnessed this in him before the attack. He's matured, and being blind forced him to acknowledge he had to change to continue living life and she can see he is happy, and content. She just wishes he would let himself get angry, this demon is here for him and he acts like he doesn't care.

"Go answer it, Nephew. May be important."

Silently, the man slips from the room, closing the door behind him. The interruption comes from his personal phone on the bench of the rounded window he sits at, he sighs as he follows the noise and briefly feels the cushion for the vibration before snatching it in his palm and quickly locating the answer button. Not putting any effort to hide the ire or annoyance he feels, "Valli."

There's a short pause on the line, the cold greeting throwing Ma off and only increasing the worry growing in her gut. Demanding into the speaker, eyebrows furrowed as she sets a bottle of rum on her cluttered desk. "Valli. What's wrong?"

"Oh." He winces, the scars tugging faintly around his left eye. "Sorry Ma, I wasn't expecting you. We have a bit of a situation and I'm kinda distracted. I didn't mean to be rude." He vaguely explains, picking at his nails and keeping one ear on the secret room.

"What situation?!" Sunny pushes herself up from her chair, pacing her office as she listens for any struggling in the background or other voices. The loose men's shirt she wears flaps as she moves, socked feet kicking discarded papers away to flutter and slide further down the office floor.

He sighs, hand running through his loose hair as he sheepishly admits. Unreasonably embarrassed for the woman to know, he wanted her to see he could handle his Hunters like she did. She has much more experience than he does in the managing business, a measly six years isn't that long compared to her years on him. He doesn't want to disappoint her, ignoring that he has only known her for a month at best and hasn't even seen her. "Well... One of my guys got himself possessed by a demon. He came over. Addy and I got him locked up. He has some sort of interest in me, at least that's what I'm gathering. He hasn't said much, besides normal mocking and bullshit, but I can feel him staring at me."

The woman pauses, silently cursing that Kane just left the house. Stomping towards the kitchen in the cabin where the burner phone she reserves for Kane is sitting on the wooden rounded table surrounded by empty bottles of liquor, going into manager mode. Determinedly, and assertively stated. "I'm sending Kane down. He'll be there by the end of the day."

Valli's eyes widen in alarm, squeaking as he rushes, stumbling over his sentences. "Wha!— Ma, no! That's!—" The line goes dead, leaving the man blinking, stunned. His head drops back to the ceiling, and his hand falls from his ear as he realizes Kane will return. "And she hung up. Great."

He hadn't wanted to show Kane just how weak he was, how pathetic he is when it comes to these situations. Kane is a hunter, he wants strong and capable people surrounding him, people he wouldn't need to watch over his shoulder or stay directly close to to keep them safe. Valli's shoulders deflate, his mind pushing thoughts and words into his focus. Sniffing dryly, the phone slips from his fingers as he sighs lightly. It doesn't matter anyway what I look like now — fragile and inadequate — he already knows how useless I am. This won't change anything between us. If anything, it'll make him run away faster. He doesn't want a weak blind man at his side, for anything in this life. I'd get him killed on the first damn case.

Valli allows himself a short moment to grieve any form of relationship with Kane, already giving up on the concept of his crush. Accepting his fate alone as a scarred retired hunter, bound to live out his days in the same old house and most likely die at the hands of old age or a creature that tracked him down. Tis the life of a hunter.

"Answer me you cheap-wrenched son of a bitch!! What do you want with my damn nephew?! Don't make me angry!" Addy's frustrated shout echoes to his ears and he huffs, shaking his head as he turns to return to the room. I should warn her. Kane might just annoy her further and someone may end up as an animal, that's her anger management.