Hajime POV

Deep within a forest of the Kyoto Prefecture, an invisible battle brewed. It was one against ten – maybe twelve. My eyes darted between the ring of vampires around me, their eyes stained that disgusting red. One of them already lied at my feet, body twitching as it regenerated.

I'd have to end this quickly before it had a chance to do so. They were strong, these ones; it made sense why their nest was so small. They'd already managed to make me lose my bag of stakes – it was somewhere around here, shielded by a bush or something. I only had three knives left.

Great.

I clutched it tighter, swivelling around so none of them had the chance to surprise me. Soon enough, two of them lunged while the others remained where they were, hissing and growling. I managed to take them both down, the blessed steel glinting in the flickers of sunlight that managed to make it through the dense trees.

With a loud, collective growl the remaining bunch came at me all at once. I threw my knife into the throat of one of them, and it collapsed to the ground with a slight gurgle. I swiped one of my remaining knives from the sheath tied around my thigh and continued to dodge attacks and throwing my own out there.

I winced as one of them managed to snag me in the side with their claws. Blood began to soak through my shirt, and that crazed look I'd grown used to glazed over their eyes. Their attacks became more desperate now, more savage as their consciousness slowly gave in to the bloodlust. They got faster as they hoped to add the taste of my blood to the smell of it wafting in the air, now.

Thankfully, although, for most people, this would've been an inconvenience, I found it easier to defeat them when they got crazy like this; of course, I wish I didn't get hurt, because it was harder to move, what, with this gash in my side.

Soon enough they were all down. I clutched my side as I stared at them, counting heads. My eyes widened – there were only eleven of them. There was one missing. I'd never let one escape before; my fists curled as I glared at the bodies strewn about the forest floor, cursing my own incompetence. This was bad.

Running a hand through my hair, I sighed. I could only hope I'd miscounted. Slowly, I began to drag them all into one pile, my nose wrinkling at the stench of their blood that stained the earth. Disgusting. Everything about these things was disgusting.

Pulling a lighter from my pocket, I lit it, staring at the flame before I dropped it on the pile of bodies. They caught fire instantly, their skin sizzling in the quiet that shrouded this forest. I watched the fire grow with a sick sense of satisfaction; this is what they deserve.

After the fire had calmed and their bodies reduced to nothing but ash, I quickly put all of it in a steel container marked with gold symbols, making sure there wasn't so much as a speck remaining; that's all they would need to regenerate, pesky bastards.

They all deserved to suffer inside this container, bodiless, almost mindless, for the rest of eternity. I slipped the small container back into my pocket as I waded through the bushes looking for my bag; if someone had found it and reported it to the authorities, then I'd definitely be in trouble.

The one vampire that slipped away still unnerved me, and every little sound made me peer over my shoulder to make sure it wasn't creeping up on me. But the forest was silence, and even after I'd found my bag and changed out of the bloodied clothes, quickly wrapping my wound to stop the bleeding, there was nothing more than woodland sounds to surround me.

Good.

~#~#~#~#~#~

The worst part of my job had always been the reports; they were long and tedious, and even the smallest of details needed to be recorded. Why, I'm not too sure – I just know that I have to do it. I sighed as I slumped onto the old, lumpy bed of the motel I was staying at.

From another bag I hid between the mattress and the bed frame, I pulled out the issued laptop that was already locked in on a Hunter server. I updated my mission status and began drilling out the boring report, the wound in my side screaming in pain.

I'd get to it later – right now I just wanted to get this damned report over and done with. By the time I finished and looked at the clock again, more than an hour had passed. I groaned, wanting nothing more than to lean back on the bed and finally get some well-deserved shut-eye, but I still had to treat the wound in my side.

With a sigh I stumbled into the bathroom, stripping from the thick black hoodie I'd thrown on. I winced as the movement aggravated the wound in my side; I really should've gotten to this earlier. As I stared at myself in the mirror, at the stains on the white tank top I'd had on under my hoodie, my fists curled at my sides.

This pain was nothing compared to what my family had endured. This pain would remind me why I did what I did, it would remind me if I ever forgot.

My shirt clung to the bandages wrapped around my torso. I exhaled heavily through my nose as I peeled those off, too. It was a lot worse than it felt; I closed my eyes for a moment as I plopped my first aid bag atop the counter.

This thing would need stitches.

Shoving a piece of leather into my mouth, I bit down, hard, and pulled out the needle.

A/N: I have nooo idea why I'm writing in first person because I... I never do that, oh well, yolo let's try it XD