Page 2 of Heart of the Hunted
CHAPTER ONE
Taredd
"What's on your mind?" Dain asked.
"Just thinking about the Humans," Taredd told him.
Two hundred years had passed since the Humans eyes were opened to the world around them, and to the creatures hiding in plain sight. When the war broke out between the supernatural races, it was the best thing that could have ever happen to this magical place.
New life sprung forth as the buildings Humans built crumbled to the ground. Mother Nature was slowly taking back her home once more. Well, except for some of the small towns and villages the supernatural races have commandeered for themselves, those were thriving.
Taredd had no sympathy for the Humans, they didn't deserve to call this place home, not when they were slowly killing it. He remembered all too well the destruction they left in their wake when they were left to rule this land, so he was glad they were nearly extinct.
Vile, despicable creatures the lot of them. Which was why after the war ended, he eagerly hunted down the last remaining Humans, killing the adults and capturing the children to sell on to slavers.
The Humans thought they could hide away from the world when the war broke out. They thought if they hid then they could escape the punishment they deserved. Little did they know, it didn't matter how well they hid themselves, they were going to be caught.
Once, there were billions of them. Now, Taredd guessed there were fewer than a hundred left. He planned on making sure that none survived.
"Why the fuck would you want to think about them? Just enjoy your night off for once. They will still be there for you to hunt tomorrow," Dain said.
"Hopefully not for too much longer," Taredd told him.
"I'll drink to that," Arun said as he raised his glass.
Dain and Arun had been by his side since long before the war started. They had each other’s backs no matter the situation. It was always them against the world, and yet, they were the most unlikely of allies.
A Demon, a Shapeshifter, and a Fae. It sounds more like the beginning of a really bad joke, but they were closer than brothers. Nothing could tear them apart, not even others of their own kind.
When the war broke out and their own kinds wanted them to fight against each other, they stuck together, refusing to fight any species except for the Humans. After all, it was the Humans that needed terminating, not any of the other races.
Now the three of them worked together, using their individual skills to hunt down and kill any remaining Human adults and rounding up the children.
"So why think about them now?" Dain asked. "After the week we've had, we deserve the night off."
It had been a productive week. Between the three of them they had managed to track down and capture sixteen Humans. Six of which were just children, one of them being a baby. Because none of them could bring themselves to kill a child, even a Human one, they collected them up and sold them to slavers.
Some of the children managed to stay hidden from them. Taredd wasn't concerned for those ones because most didn't survive on their own. The lucky few that did make it to adulthood, were then hunted down just like the rest. Either way, it was one less Human to worry about.
"Yeah, that's true," Taredd agreed.
"I think we deserve longer than a night off," Arun said.
"A week sounds good," Dain said. "Since we're our own boss, why don't we take a week off?"
"You two can if you want to, but I would rather have the time off when we're done," Taredd told them.
"It's been years since we had more than a night off, don't you think it's about time we did?" Arun asked.
"As I said, you two can if you want, but I'm going to carry on for a bit longer. I don't think there's many of them left."
"All the more reason to have a break," Dain said.
"All the more reason to carry on," he countered. "You know how fast they reproduce."
"Yeah, I do, and it's not that bloody fast. It's not as if they breed like rodents," Dain said.
"Thankfully," Taredd added.
