1Chapter II
The woman took slow, soundless strides through the dimly lit alleyway. Garbed in a pitch-black Lolita-style dress that reached down to her mid shins, the skid row of Mori City was the last place one might expect to find such an outfit of archaic elegance. The mere sight of this anomaly would throw most off guard—a great boon for a hunter such as herself. As fate would have it, the woman had found that other predators often made for easy prey. So engrossed they were in their own hunting that they forgot that there was always a bigger fish.
So it was without surprise that the woman found herself with a morbid smile on her face. "Yin, I am stalking three potential prey," she whispered. "I am not sure how long the confrontation with their own quarry will be."
The woman's small earpiece projected her partner's voice directly into her ear. "Good find, Eve. Their total bounty will more than fulfill our quota."
"Acknowledged. I will notify you when I am done here."
Before Eve were three thugs, two men and a woman, who had cornered a young couple, a male and a female. The thugs paid little heed to anything other than their quarry, at which they brandished their weapons. As for the couple, the male had put himself between the female and the thugs, while the female herself had laid her one hand on his shoulder. The male's gesture was certainly one of thought rather than practicality; unless he was someone extraordinary, there was no way he could take on three people that were armed with a bat, a knife, and an axe.
"You know what we want," the knife-wielding woman said, a nice change from the usual give me your money or the like.
The male glanced back to the female, who simply nodded, and they promptly put their few possessions into a bag the man with the axe held open, save for a simple yet charming metal bracelet the female had on her wrist. The thugs ignored her pleading to let her keep just that one possession of hers. Unable to remove the bracelet of her own accord, partly due to lack of another arm and partly due to a reluctance to lose something of such importance, the male removed it for her, whispering words of assurance all the while.
The two looked nervously between the three thugs, certainly hoping they would not be harmed. Eve herself shared that sentiment, as that would mean she would have to intervene. It would be inconvenient if the couple saw her kill the thugs.
"I'm glad you two cooperated so well," the knife-woman said, a smug grin on her face. "Made things a lot easier for the both of us. Now, scram!" She pointed with her free hand toward the opposite side of the alley from where the woman stood.
The couple took a few tentative steps away before making haste out of the alley.
"Hmph. Alright boys, let's get out of here."
The trio turned towards Eve's end of the alley and began to walk. It took them a few steps before they noticed her presence, and a few steps closer to realize that there was in fact a person in the middle of their path. They stopped in their tracks, expressions of surprise and confusion plastered on their faces.
"Hello," Eve said, "I am feeling generous tonight, so if you return the couple's possessions to them, I will not bother you."
The man with the bat was the first of the three to regain his composure and to speak. "H-hey! Who the hell do you think we are?!"
"A trio of foolish thugs who think too highly of themselves."
"We're the fools who think highly of themselves?" the knife-woman replied. "Look at you confronting us."
"Perhaps."
Now that the three thought they understood the situation, they began to inch towards Eve. "By the way, that's a fine dress you have on. Never really liked that style, but I'm sure it cost more than a few shiny pennies."
"It is worth more than your lives combined. However, if you are thinking of taking after the Petti Thieves, you will have to kill me before you can take this dress off me."
The axe-man spun his weapon. "We can arrange that."
The knife-woman pointed her weapon at Eve. "Enough talk. You either take off your dress or we force it off you. If you don't make a hassle of things, we'll make sure you have at least some clothes to wear afterwards."
The three were now almost upon Eve. "I will give you one last chance. You can either return the couple's possessions right now or I will bother you."
"Wrong choice." The man readied the blunt side of his axe to strike.
A malicious grin spread on Eve's face. "Wrong choice indeed."
The trio was almost on top of Eve when the knife-woman met Eve's piercing gaze. The thug's hard expression faltered and she stopped dead in her tracks. "W-wait! This woman… there's something… something off about her."
"Too late." Eve lunged and crushed the axe-man's throat with a strike that could easily fracture bone, then wringed his neck. Before the two other thugs could even process what had happened, Eve dispatched the man with the bat in a similar fashion.
The female thug uttered a cry of utter terror as her brain caught up with the situation. Eve slowly walked towards her prey, who stumbled backwards and onto her backside.
Eve kneeled down before the woman. "Foolish predators like you have forgotten your place on the food chain." She gently took the knife from the woman's shaking hand and placed the tip of the blade at the base of the woman's skull. She thrust the blade up into the head, piercing the brainstem, and twisted. The thug died almost instantly. Eve stood up, leaving the knife imbedded in the back of her prey's head.
She dragged the bodies of the slain trio off to the side of the alley, out of view from anyone who were to simply glance in.
"Yin, the bodies are ready."
"Heading to retrieve them now."
"While she was too late," Eve soundlessly strode out of the alleyway to walk along a back street, "for once one of my prey had a clue that I am dangerous."
"You should really stop confronting your prey and neutralize them without notice. At some point someone will walk in on you."
She chuckled silently at the words she had heard many times before. It had long since become a sort of joke. "There is no need to repeat what has already been stated three hundred fourteen times."
"There is a need when a certain youngster does not listen for the first three hundred fourteen times."
"I listen, but choose not to follow. People are just too amusing."
Yin sighed. "Well, as they say, enjoy your youth. Anyways, can you hunt two more? The bounty will allow us to splurge a little as well as fill our reserves."
"Of course."
"Happy hunting, then. May your endeavors be fruitful."
"Yours as well."
Eve inhaled deeply through her nose, taking in the myriad scents of the night. Nearly every city under the rule of the Pantheon Of Light was built upon the exact same general structure—it made logistics much easier—yet they were all unique in their own way. It was similar to how organisms of a species were the same yet different. Mori City was a contradiction of smells: the redolence of Human development and the aroma of natural flora. It was a weird smell that Eve did not particularly like. That, and it was distracting her. She exhaled through her mouth.
The night was young and she had two more prey to hunt. If she finished her duties in a timely matter, that would leave her a fair amount of free time all to herself. Or if she finished quickly with her next prey, she could have some fun with her last for a while. Yes… the latter sounded like a good plan.
The thought of toying with her prey put a smile on her face.
Chapter End
Begin [A/N]
A step away from the flashy sci-fi and fantasy, though of course Eve and Yin are anything but normal.
I had finished this chapter a while ago, which is why this story got an update so relatively soon. Not as refined as the first chapter, but I think it is good enough to present.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of Rising.