It was a cold night.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat, trying to suppress a shiver as the chilly wind blew against me. Reluctantly removing my hands from their sanctuary, I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head tighter, trying to keep my ears and face shielded from the snowy breeze.

It didn’t work.

Hissing through my teeth, I jammed my gloved hands back into my pockets and hastened my pace. I veered toward the nearest building, hoping for some refuge against the bitter wind. I cautiously traversed the snow, taking care not to slip on the ice. Leaning close to the brick wall, which had turned white from snow and ice, I let out a misty breath that billowed in front of my face.

Cold. Cold, cold, cold…

I gritted my chattering teeth as I forced myself to take one step at a time. Every step would bring me closer to home. As long as I didn’t pause, I should be home before I knew it.

A howl stopped me dead in my tracks. I nervously cast a glance behind me, half-expecting to see a wolf.

There are no wolves in Fenris.

I sighed, wondering what I was doing. There was little point jumping at every sound and being afraid of my own shadow. Rather than worry about monsters lurking in the dark, it was best to get home as quickly as possible.

Though I wouldn’t mind facing an actual monster. Or monsters.

I chuckled at the thought and shook my head. I was wasting too much time here. Taking another step in the direction of my home, I was about to resume my pace when I heard the howl again.

I froze.

A guttural growl rumbled behind me. Even without turning around, I could see something immense lurking behind me, its shadow dwarfing mine. Swallowing, I slowly spun around to look at the source.

It was a wolf.

There are no wolves in Fenris.

Evidently, that was a lie. For there was a wolf standing right in front of me, its muscular frame rippling beneath bristling fur. However, it didn’t look like any wolf I had ever seen. It was too huge and hunched, its bulk far too massive and thick. And it was standing on two legs, towering over three meters.

Wolves didn’t stand on two legs. And they weren’t supposed to be that large.

Yet, despite its strangeness, the wolf moved with a lupine grace, stalking me. Its slavering jaws snapped open, revealing double rows of fangs before it lunged at me.

I dove out of the way, scrambling for something in my coat, as the gigantic wolf struck the ground. There was no mistaking it. That thing was a werewolf. From my…

“Get down!”

A sharp voice lashed out at me and I instinctively dropped to the floor, my hand stuck inside my coat. Risking a peek, I saw a young woman with black hair and in leather suit dropping down beside me. The werewolf snarled at her before bounding forward, but the lady raised a handheld automatic MP5 and let loose a stream of bullets.

The lycanthrope skidded to a stop but was unable to avoid getting hit by the torrent of bullets. With a whine, it dropped onto the floor, shielding its face with its huge claws. Yet the young woman didn’t ease off on her barrage, mercilessly unloading the entire clip into the writhing werewolf. When her gun ran dry, she ejected the spent cartridge and slapped in a new magazine before squeezing the trigger again. By the time she finished the second magazine, the werewolf had gone still.

I raised an eyebrow as the creature melted away, turning into a naked human corpse. Caucasian male, in his forties, with surprisingly little hair.

“It’s not safe here,” the young woman told me, ejecting the spent magazine and slapping a fresh one in. She tensed for a moment as if listening for something. In the background, two howls echoed, the chilling sounds carried by the freezing breeze.

“No shit,” I muttered, staring at the corpse. “When did werewolves start crawling around here?”

The young lady raised an eyebrow. “So you know it’s a werewolf?”

“What else can it be?” I retorted, rolling my eyes.

“…” the young woman studied me for a second. “You don’t seem very surprised.”

“Well, duh. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve seen one. Like I said, I’m more surprised at how you managed to kill the werewolf.”

“These bullets contain silver nitrate,” the young woman replied, gesturing to her gun. Before she could elaborate further, another howl pierced the night. She glanced at the darkness, her eyes narrowing. For a moment, I could have sworn that her blue eyes turned crimson. “There’s no time. We have to go.”

“Go where?”

“Somewhere safe.” The woman gave me a look. “Come with me if you want to live.”

I raised an eyebrow but didn’t object. I followed, not because I feared for my life, but because she looked gorgeous, dressed in that sexy, skintight black leather. She reminded me of someone…what was the name of that actress? Kate Beckinsale? But a much younger version? God, that actress was still gorgeous at 44.

Trying not to look at her sweet ass and concentrate on staying vigilant, I followed the young lady into a building. Glancing up, I saw that it was the 8th District Station. A subway station, huh? As we descended, I could hear the low rumbling of a distant train drifting up the stairs. At this time of the night, the trains were still running.

As much as I want to board a train, it’ll just take me further away from home.

Speaking of which, why wasn’t I taking my chances aboveground and going home? Staying with the young woman wouldn’t necessarily improve my chances of survival…

“Stay down!”

The lady hissed and gestured for me to duck down. I obeyed on reflex, flattening myself against a wall while my hand went for the gun in my jacket. The lady was moving down the stairs in a half-crouch now, her glowing red eyes sweeping the darkness ahead for any signs of the enemy. She trained the barrel of her MP5 ahead, her finger on the trigger.

But there was nothing to shoot. Instead, the noise from outside seemed to grow louder, with heavy panting and footsteps crushing the ice.

Swearing, the girl switched her aim and pointed upward at the entrance of the stairs. She jerked her head at me.

“Keep an eye out… if you see anything move – anything at all – let me know immediately. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I bit back a sarcastic retort and stepped behind her. Straining my eyes, I glanced around the dim interior of the subway. The distant rumbling of the train continued, but I saw no sign of the transport. The air was still, with cold drafts of air leaking in from above. But there was no sign of movement. As I expected, the station was deserted at this time of the night. Scratching my head, I turned back to the young woman, who was keeping her MP5 trained on the entrance.

The werewolves never came.

Pushing my glasses up, I sighed. The young woman didn’t relax, however, and she cast a glare at me. I shrugged and kept my eyes riveted on the subway. I still couldn’t see anything, and even the distant rumbling of the trains had sunk into a sullen silence.

There was nobody here except for the two of us.

I strained my ears to listen, but it wasn’t just the trains. The lycanthropes outside seemed to have vanished. I couldn’t hear their heavy breathing or footsteps.

Where could they be?

It was unlike werewolves to give up chasing their prey like this. I was certain they were still around, waiting for an opportunity to ambush us.

“Stay where you are,” the young lady instructed, keeping her gun trained on the entrance. I nodded, knowing better than to argue. The woman glanced at me, her expression turning a little suspicious, but before she could say anything, the wall beside her suddenly crumbled and a howling werewolf burst out to swipe at her with its claws.

“!”

The young woman ducked, just barely, throwing her head back and flipping her entire body up and away. The claws managed to cut off a few strands of her dark hair but otherwise did no damage. The woman brought her MP5 up to fire a few rounds, but the werewolf smacked the gun out of her grip before slashing at her. The lady evaded its strikes with superhuman reflexes, twisting to the side to prevent herself from getting eviscerated. Flipping herself up, she jumped on one of the werewolf’s paw before kicking it in the jaw. The huge creature’s head snapped back, but it didn’t even stagger. Instead, snarling, it slashed at its opponent, who ducked under its claws and smacked another kick into its solar plexus.

Rather than an attack, the lady used that maneuver as a method to propel herself away.

I moved in to help, but before I could, I heard growls from the subway. Twisting around and holding up my gun, I caught sight of a pack of werewolves racing along the tracks normally reserved for trains. I snapped off a shot with my semiautomatic pistol and the lead werewolf suddenly stumbled and fell, skidding across the metal tracks.

“Don’t be an idiot! Get away!”

The young woman, despite engaging with an enemy of her own, still found the opportunity to yell at me. I ignored her and took aim at another werewolf, squeezing off a second shot.

“Normal guns don’t work on them!”

“I’m well aware…”

The third werewolf was much too close, hauling itself up the tracks and jumping onto the platform. Snarling, it swiped at me, but I managed to jump back and evade. Growling in slight confusion, the werewolf advanced upon me, slashing again. This time, I dropped onto the ground, feeling the razor-sharp claws sever several strands of my hair. As the werewolf bore down on me, I slid past right between its legs and hopped to my feet.

The werewolf spun around clumsily to pursue me, only to stare down the barrel of my custom Desert Eagle. I blew its brains out.

The two werewolves I had shot earlier were crawling to their feet and limping toward the platform, howling in agony as their limbs contorted.

I was waiting for them. As the first one hauled itself up the platform, it found itself staring down the barrel of my semiautomatic. I shot it between the eyes and watched as its body flopped back down onto the tracks. The third werewolf managed to crawl up and take a swipe at me before I could shift my aim, forcing me to withdraw.

Meanwhile, the young woman was still dueling with her werewolf opponent. She had managed to withdraw to a safe distance, skidding across the ground to snatch her MP5. Just as the werewolf bore down on her, she raised her automatic weapon and unleashed a hail of silver nitrate bullets that peppered the screeching behemoth, dropping it to its knees as it struggled to shield itself. Keeping up the continuous stream of bullets, the woman leaped to her feet and ran toward the werewolf. At the very last moment, when the werewolf lashed out in reflex, she jumped and planted her foot on the lycanthrope’s paw before springing herself upward. Twisting her body in midair as she sailed above the stunned werewolf, she brought her MP5 down and released a final burst of bullets into its head, dropping it. She then landed gracefully on the ground before snapping a fresh magazine into her now empty weapon. Spinning around, she took aim at the werewolf that was trying to eviscerate me.

However, she didn’t have the time to fire any shots. Behind, another violent howl erupted and several werewolves bounded down the stairs. The young woman was forced to turn around and shoot at them, but she was only able to bring down one before the rest of them pounced on her.

“Gah!”

With a nimbleness and reflexes that far exceeded those of a normal human, the young woman evaded the charging werewolves and hurled herself to the side. She dove into cover while firing from the hip, deterring a few of the lumbering lycanthropes from lunging at her. They cautiously kept their distance, but the lack of accuracy failed to kill any of them.

As much as I would love to help the lady, I had troubles of my own. The werewolf I had shot earlier was still swiping at me. Even though it was limping a little, it was still swift and deadly, forcing me to be on my toes.

“Whoa!”

I jumped back as the werewolf swung its lethal claws at me, almost tearing through the front of my shirt. A few more millimeters and my guts would have poured out of my ripped abdomen. I tried to aim my Desert Eagle at it, but it slashed at me again, throwing off my aim.

While I danced along the precipice of death, I heard the distant roar of at rain. Lights flooded the tunnel as something came curving around the subterranean tracks. Undistracted by the sudden noise and light, the werewolf closed in on me, but I already had a plan forming in my mind. Taking a deep breath, I waited for the lycanthrope to slash at me. Evading the deadly claws by a hair’s breadth, I discharged a shot into its leg.

“Awoooo!”

The werewolf fell to its knee, clutching its wounded leg. However, I was already moving, twisting around and delivering a roundhouse kick that threw its head back. Despite my best efforts, my kick wasn’t able to budge the behemoth. The snarling werewolf tried to rise to its feet again, and this time I tackled it while firing another shot into its leg.

The werewolf staggered backward, but my momentum finally caused it to fall over the edge and back onto the tracks. As for me, I hit the edge of the platform and quickly rolled to safety.

The lycanthrope rose to its feet shakily and snarled at me…only to be run over by the approaching train. Silver or not, no living creature was going to get up after being reduced to bloody paste by a ten-ton train moving at full speed.

The werewolves growled, several of them peeling off to eliminate me. I turned around, bringing my gun up, but behind me, the train chimed and the doors flew open. An army of heavily armed men charged out and opened fire on the lunging lycanthropes, shredding them with automatic fire. I watched as the wounded werewolves collapsed into spasms, transforming into bloodied human corpses.

Those rounds must be silver nitrate.

“Selena.”

One of the newcomers ejected a spent magazine from his carbine and slapped in a fresh one while approaching her. The young woman rolled her eyes and tossed her dark hair back.

“David. What took you so long?”

“It’s not our fault that the train came late.”

David rested the stock of his carbine against his shoulder while the rest of the armed men fanned out to ensure there were no surviving werewolves.

“So who’s the stray you picked up?” David jabbed a thumb at me and then frowned as he sniffed in my direction. “Is he…a human?”

“…yes. I didn’t think it was a good idea to leave him to the lycanthropes. If he survived, he would have turned into one of them.”

“Not likely,” I responded, feeling a bit annoyed at having my existence ignored.

“You know the rules. No human witnesses.”

“…so either I kill him or turn him.”

“…”

The woman named Selena turned to me apologetically. Her eyes seemed to flash crimson for a moment, but when I stared into them, they had returned to their clear blue.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I holstered my Desert Eagle. “In fact, I should be thankful.”

Right before Selena could reach me, I drew an automatic weapon from my coat. A submachine gun with full automatic capacity, I brought it up and sprayed the stunned vampires with devastating projectiles. The victims screamed as they fell, their bodies burning into ash. Selena froze, not comprehending what happened. In the space of the time it took for her to react, I had slaughtered David and his men with a single clip.

“Y…you…”

“Ultraviolet ray rounds,” I explained somewhat needlessly, ejecting the empty magazine and replacing it. “Oh, and since you were nice enough to help me, I’ll spare your life.”

But Selena wasn’t asking how I was able to kill her brethren. She already knew something was strange about me, particularly with the way I handled the werewolves and killed them so easily. She narrowed her eyes.

“W…who are you?”

I could see her canines elongating into fangs and her eyes turning crimson as she glared at me. I held my submachine gun loosely, making sure I would be able to fire off several shots should she choose to attack me and avenge her comrades.

“Me? I’m a hunter.”

“…hunter?”

“Yeah. A human who hunts werewolves and vampires. But I’m not a callous bastard.”

I was already heading back up the stairs. Selena watched me warily, but she wasn’t stupid enough to try and lunge at me.

“If you’re kind enough to help me, then I won’t hunt you. I have manners enough for that.”

Selena glared at me, her eyes hard and unwavering. She tightened the grip on her MP5 but didn’t raise it.

“Next time we meet, we’ll be enemies.”

“I’m not looking forward to that. Look, it’s nothing personal. I would have left you guys alone if you left me alone. But…” I tried to do my best imitation of David. “You know the rules. No human witnesses.”

“…”

Selena glared at me. A pity. I kind of liked her, but I supposed the vampire-human boundary was too high a hurdle to cross. Closing my eyes, I sighed and proceeded out of the station and back into the cold. The wind blew into my face and I shivered. For some reason, it felt colder than earlier. Maybe it was the weather, or perhaps it was the lack of company.

I didn’t know. I didn’t care. The path of a hunter was one of solitude.

Holstering my weapon, I tightened my coat around my trembling body and began my trek back home.