Broken Hearts. Mended Lives Chapter 22

The rest of the day passed without any incident. Ahri had fed herself well on my all-but-infinite life force. With Ahri herself getting along with Hinata and I without any drama.

Sure she had her self-loathing for eating thousands of people and having their souls devoured by her abilities... But hey it was manageable with how she knew she she could nurse off my life force and literally not hurt me a bit.

And all too soon Elsa and Annika had awoken and I explained how Ahri, being a Gumiho was a 'relative' of Hinata from back in Asia before I saved her which eased the vampire sisters about Ahri's presence.

Though as I was drinking a cup of coffee and watching some tv, Elsa the more serious of the vampire sisters spoke up. "Jake, I did receive a message from the local Hunters."

I raised an eyebrow and looked away from the tv towards Elsa and she took a breath before saying bluntly. "There has been a... Surge of Wendigo's apparently. A whole dead-end small town that was thought lost during a terrible snowstorm got turned into Wendigo's when the power was lost. A native Wendigo's pack tore them out of their homes, force-fed the weak, sick, and old into the other residents, and then forced them to freeze, to death to turn them." 

A flex of my hands with my knuckles popping rang out as I calmly asked. "The children?" 

Annika spoke coldly. "Wendigo's eat them personally. Too weak to be turned into more Wendigo's brutal livelihood and pack structure. And they adore them for their tender flesh... They are one of the supernatural side's biggest issues with how easily they can breed and they are just cunning enough to hide in inhospitable places where Hunters have difficulty finding them." 

Elsa added on. "They aren't vampires who can much more easily be found in cities and the like. Hunters would have to track them deep into the boonies, in dark deep mountains and forests where they will be the hunted as Wendigo's have a supernatural sense for things entering the territory they haunt." 

To which I simply asked blankly. "What kills Wendigo's"

"Wounds done by cold iron will negate their high-speed regeneration and spiritual and mental poison they have on their fangs and claws. But no matter what, in order for you to properly kill a Wendigo you have to completely rip more than ninety percent of their heart out of their chest and then burn it to kill the soul of the Wendigo." Elsa explained.

With Annika adding on darkly. "If you don't rip the monster's heart out and then burn it. The damned thing will literally just reform randomly even hundreds of miles away with it having a connection to you it's a hunter. And will track you down and do its best to kill you in turn by ripping your heart out to eat it and gain your strength." 

My lips twitched at how fucking annoying it sounded to kill these monsters... But I had some tricks up my sleeves as well. I was able to dance with Blade for a bit and could keep up with Else and Annika who had fed themselves off my blood.

So I was confident in fighting the monsters even if it was like three on one without much issue. 

"The current rates are fifteen thousand dollars for their heads. It was previously ten thousand but the Hunters and Kamar Taj are raising up the bounties on the monsters to cull their numbers." Annika spoke with some excitement.

I made a slight humming noise though Hinata spoke up. "Jake, before you think about doing this. You will need tools to do such a job." She reminded me and I threw her a smile in thanks with myself looking over at Elsa and asking.

"Do you have any contacts for people where I can buy an axe, sword, and the like that is cold iron, enchanted or something to that effect?" 

Elsa tilted her head to the side and said with a wry smile. "Yeah... The Hunter's guild is directly here in Minneapolis for one. But I can't go there. A vampire walking into the guild is just asking to be staked for an easy bounty."

So with that Elsa gave me the 'address' to the local Hunter's dive where monster hunters came together to get supplies, lore on local monsters, and if needed make deals with the local Kamar Taj to get curses removed if needed.

Though if anything I would just be going to the bar which apparently doubled as a Hunter gathering spot with the intent in getting some tools of the trade. As, as great as I had gotten with my throwing knives. They were still just mundane steel.

"Are you just planning on going alone?" Ahri asked with some anxiety in her voice.

To which Elsa and Annika bluntly said. "Not happening!" At the same time.

I coughed at that and said honestly. "The bar itself yes, As technically not a single person in this room is human with how Hinata and I are labeled mutants for some dumbass reason."

Giving the girl's looks I looked to Hinata and chewed on my thoughts before I asked Ahri honestly. "Ahri can you fight?"

And there wasn't any hesitation in the Gumiho's eyes as she replied calmly. "I will have zero issues killing monsters that go out of their way to be the monster I was forced to be."

'Well that's something...' I thought before I looked to Hinata and took a deep breath before I asked her something. "Hinata. I know you still aren't comfortable fighting, but if you were with Annika and Elsa watching for you. Do you think you could act as a scout with your Byuakugan to find the monsters?" 

And what do you know, Hinata gave a firm nod as she laid a hand on her ample chest and spoke with a surprising core of steel in her voice. "Yes! I can definitely do that much at least!"