The shadowy figure jumped from rooftop to rooftop and only paused to sniff, as if he was following a scent. Finally he found something, a small trail of slime leading down the edge into the alley below.

"Hello...?" A female voice called out, as a woman in a black coat threaded cautiously into the alley, drawn like a moth to the flame.

He looked at her from the top of the building and analyzed for a few seconds, then backed off and hid from sight as he let nature take its course.

"Whose there? ...Are you hurt? ...Please answer me," she asked as she walked further into the dark alley, following the sound of a faint whimper. She could swear something was moving in the shadows as the trash cans rattled, but after a deep breath she continued on bravely.

Suddenly, she spotted a faint glowing orb in the dark like the light from an angerfish. It was a hypnotizing sight and drew her in closer without any second thought. Just as she reached out to touch it, a tenacious monster jumped out from the shadows and came right at her.

Her scream was his cue. He jumped the ledge and glided down the drain pipe, then sprinted straight towards the creature as he drew his swords. For however many eyes the abomination had, it looked just as surprised by the swift approaching warrior. It was like it knew it was being hunted.

Gnarls and roars echoed through the alley until finally, the commotion ended with a high-pitched yelp. A few minutes later, the woman walked out of the alley shaken and speechless by what she had witness. The warrior followed shortly, drenched in green slime with a sour face as he tried shaking it off his arms.

"Wa-was that...?" The woman stuttered as she cast a look at him, her face looked like she had seen a ghost. He raised an eyebrow and looked skeptical, as if all the goo he was covered in him wasn't evidence enough.

She started walking back and forth like a broken record as she processed it. He shrugged and started trying to wipe off the slime as he waited for her to calm down. She raised a finger as she started talking to herself, "But a real monster, not like in the movies..."

"A demon," he corrected her. She stopped and looked at him like he was from another world, "You... knew what it was." He nodded and she poked her forehead as she put the pieces together, then pointed at him as she finally realized, "You were hunting it."

He was about to nod when she suddenly raised her voice, "AND YOU USED ME AS BAIT!" He looked surprised and a bit scared as she marched towards him. She threw her tiny fists at his chests and started hammering away, "You... used me... as bait...." Her voice started cracking as she sobbed.

He gently grabbed her wrists and she stopped hitting him as the tears flowed down her cheeks. He took her in close and hugged her as he whispered, "You're okay now... It's over." They stood there for a while as she calmed herself then finally pushed away, "You saved me."

"Go home. Forget this ever happened..." He told her and she nodded, looking to her left and right to find her way, as if she had forgotten the world there for a moment. "Will... there be more monsters?" She asked as she looked into his bold eyes. He closed his eyes and shook his head reassuring, "No... I'll hunt them all down."

"Demon hunter, huh..." She said with a slight smile and raised eyebrows and he nodded. They stood there in silence for a while before she finally snapped, "If you don't mind, I'm going to run away now." He grinned and raised his hand to wave goodbye before she turned tail and ran along the street clinging to her purse.

He sighed as he looked the other way to his own home. "Man... this stuff is going to take forever to get out."

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CONTINUED ON BONDOWOLF

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Part of the slow gradual updates I'm doing to some of my older stories to improve their writing and the character representation.