The Most Important Rule

The werewolf sprung on top of the hunter, crushing him to his death. I couldn't even see the man anymore; his body disappeared from view under the wolf's massive form.

As soon as I realized that there was no way the Agent could have survived he impact, everything went quiet and still. The wolf had stopped fighting now that he had defeated his enemy. I still sat on the ground, barely moving - barely breathing - as I watched the terrible scene before me.

The wolf lay still. His body was sprawled out on the ground; I expected him to get up, but he didn't. I was anticipating him turning to me and attacking - but the gnashing of teeth around my throat never came.

And then - it moved. The movement was awkward; he was shifting uncomfortably to the side as if he was terribly wounded. It looked like he was being pushed off the ground.

Wait.

He was being pushed off the ground. It was the hunter. He was alive.

The man freed himself from the overwhelmingly heavy wolf. In the light of a street lamp, I saw a silver dagger jutting out of the wolf's breast, and the fur around the wound was soaked in crimson.

"Hey," said the Agent, panting heavily but trying to sound casual. "What's up?"

I just stared at him. That's all I could really manage at the moment.

He laughed at my utter surprise and stood up, brushing himself off. "I'm Foster, by the way," he said, offering his hand to help me up.

"Y-You're…You're supposed to be dead!" I stuttered.

He laughed again. "Come on, that's insulting. Do you think I'd let myself get killed that easily?" he asked, but then turned serious. "But as for you, you need to be more careful. You're quite clumsy for a D.a.r.c. Agent."

He gave me a smile. I rolled my eyes, but grinned back. It was hard not to smile at him.

"Anyway, we should take care of that," Foster said, referring to the bleeding claw marks on my arm that the wolf had given me.

"But the werewolf wasn't changed when this happened," I protested. "Nothing can happen, right?"

"You never know what kind of damage could have been done," he warned. "Werewolf venom spreads much easier than that of a vampire's."

I frowned, but I had no other choice but to agree. "Alright," I said. "My headquarters are nearby - we can go there."

-_-_-_-

Rustan was pissed.

After the fight with the other werewolves, he had noticed that Chase disappeared. Assuming that she had just gone home, he returned to the house. But he started to worry about her when she was nowhere to be found.

And then she comes home with some guy. He wasn't just a normal guy, either. He was a godforsaken hunter. That's just what Rustan needed right now: another hunter hating his guts.

He couldn't say that this Foster was too thrilled to see him, either. Just like all Agents, he automatically considered vampires to be untrustworthy.

Rustan sat in the corner of the room on his couch, glaring darkly at the two as Chase's scratch marks were attended to.

"This is fascinating," he heard Foster comment as he inspected Chase's wounds. "You don't seem to have any side effects whatsoever from the werewolf. I've never seen anything like it."

"I am immune to vampire bites," Chase informed him. Rustan could tell she was bragging about her little gift. "Maybe werewolves don't have an effect on me, either."

Foster stopped bandaging her up to stare at her. "You're immune?" he asked incredulously. "You mean you're that D.a.r.c. Agent?"

Chase grinned. "The one and only. The best of the best."

Rustan scowled. What a show off.

"I didn't even recognize you!" Foster exclaimed, clearly impressed with whom he was now talking to. "All Agents have heard about you. You're practically famous!"

Rustan rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the two blabbering humans. They were such a nuisance.

He didn't like this human boy. He also didn't like how he was giving Chase so much attention, or how Chase was soaking it up. Chase was his partner - Foster was just a newcomer. An intruder.

Rustan felt like Chase was his person to give attention to. Nobody else should take that privilege from him.

But then he shook his head, realizing what stupid thoughts were running through his mind. Of course it wasn't his job to focus on Chase. And he shouldn't even care if someone was praising her - it's not like he was going to do it, anyway. He was too stubborn and proud to every give Chase a compliment.

An abrupt knock on the door interrupted Rustan's thoughts. The two humans were too absorbed in themselves to even notice, so Rustan reluctantly got off the couch and answered the door.

It was Thez.

"Chaysie!" Thez yelled sternly as he pushed past Rustan. Chase looked up, surprised to see him here.

"I heard about what happened," he said crossly, nodding to her now-bandaged wound.

"You did?" she asked. "Who told you?"

Suddenly a look of comprehension passed over her face and she turned to Rustan. She gave him a nasty glare and mouthed, tattle-tale. He just smirked in reply. He knew Thez would be pissed if he found out that Chase had been clumsy enough to be wounded by an immortal again.

Chase looked back at Thez. "If you're going to yell at me, make it quick," she said, folding her arms.

Now it was Thez's turn to look surprised. "Actually, I came here to check up on you, not to give you a lecture," he said.

"Oh. Wait, seriously?" she asked, eyes wide. It was unlike Thez to let her get off that easy.

"Yep," Thez said happily, and Chase looked pleased as well. "However..."

Chase rolled her eyes. "There's always a catch," she muttered under her breath, but Rustan was the only one that could hear her.

"...D.a.r.c. is getting increasingly worried about you health. In addition, we've noticed that there are just as many werewolves in New York City as there are vampires. And in order to actually help the humans, we're going to need to hunt the wolves as well."

"Hunt werewolves?" Chase repeated, looking confused. "I don't know how to."

"Yes, and that's why you're going to get help," Thez replied.

"Help from - Oh no. No, no, no, Thez. I do not want another partner," Chase said sternly. Rustan rolled his eyes, annoyed by the fact that Chase was too proud to give up her independence. But at the same time, Rustan wasn't too keen on getting a new partner. One human was enough, thank you very much.

"It'll be someone from the other subsection of D.a.r.c., someone who is experiences with wolves," Thez answered, trying to persuade Chase. "Someone that's already stationed here in New York."

"What other hunter is already - " Chase started but she stopped short. Rustan watched as her gaze went from Thez, to Foster, and then back to Thez.

"No," she said seriously.

Rustan didn't know why, but he felt strangely happy when she rejected Foster. If his heart was still beating it might have actually leapt for joy.

-_-_-_-

I did not want to team up with Foster.

No offense to him or anything. He was insanely attractive and a good fighter, but just...no.

Rule #14: The two subsections of D.a.r.c. do not work together.

Just like all companies that had a similar product to sell (i.e. the skills of a monster hunter up for hire), the two subsections constantly had a bit of competition. Vampire hunters and werewolf hunters were rivals. Unfortunately for me, I get to be a little too competitive. “Friendly” competition didn't exist - it was a serious, win-or-lose, life-or-death kind of competition.

That's why I didn't want Foster to join the group. I was already teamed up with a vampire - that was bad enough. I don't think I'd have any self-respect if I was also working with a werewolf hunter.

But, like most things in my job, I didn't have much of a choice.

"Too bad," Thez said. That's all he needed to say; I already knew the whole shebang. D.a.r.c. HQ had already agreed to this, and they had signed some sort of professional business contract, and everything was all set up and Foster was ready to move in ASAP, and blah blah blah. Nothing could be changed now.

"Fine!" I yelled, frustrated. I hated not being able to make my own decisions.
"I hope you like your new partner, Foster," I said angrily (but not too angrily...Foster was hot) and I pointed to the grumpy vampire sulking on the couch.
"He's a bloodsucking rodent, so get used to it. Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to bed. Or do I not get a say in that, either?" I asked Thez, glaring daggers at him.

Thez rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Good!" I yelled and stormed up the stairs into my room.

In all honesty, I wasn't too angry about the whole thing. Foster was good looking, nice, funny...well, like I said before. He was good looking. But I had the bitter-at-the-world reputation to live up to, and I felt like I needed to act angry so Thez wouldn't think he had won so easily. I'm stubborn like that.

As soon as I laid eyes on my bed, I realized just how tired I really was. It was a stressful night, and I could see the first hint of sunrise peeking over the silhouette of the skyscrapers. Without changing out of my hunting clothes I climbed into bed, and before my head hit the pillow I was fast asleep.

-_-_-_-

"I'm not a vampire."

"Then what the hell are you? A werewolf?" I demanded angrily.

The thing laughed in his light, sing-song voice. "I don't think you'd believe me even if I told you."

"Try me," I snapped.

"Like I said before, Chaysie: All in good time. I'll tell you once I get a bit of information from you, first."

"What could you possibly want to know? If you're trying to find out where D.a.r.c. headquarters are, you're not getting shit from me. I'll never tell you."

"Well aren't you a feisty one," he laughed. "But I'm not interested in getting that sort of detail from you. I can easily get to D.a.r.c. headquarters, despite your naive belief that its location is top-secret. What I want, Chaysie, is a different sort of information."

He stepped dangerously close to me. I could clearly see his pearly white fangs glisten in the moonlight, and as his soft breath caressed my face I noted how it smelled subtly sweet, reminding me - as strange as this sounds - of plums. His intense silver eyes bore into mine. His gaze wasn't full of anger or maliciousness as I had expected; rather, they were filled with overwhelming curiosity. He seemed so irresistibly interested in me, I couldn't help but feel a little calmed down. That must have been the mind control taking effect again.

He moved to speak again, leaning in towards me as he murmured his next words. "What's your weakness?"

The words were as faint as if the wind had whispered it, yet his light voice seemed to echo into the night. His face was millimeters from mine, and his wintry cool lips brushed against my skin as he spoke.

I don't know what came over me. Perhaps it was the mind control, or his alluring eyes. Or perhaps he was emitting such an aura of charismatic charm I just couldn't resist him.

But for some unspeakable and utterly stupid reason, I answered him.

"I'm absolutely terrified of