The moment was very sudden. One second Crispin was lying peacefully on a bed in a strange room, and the next he was sitting upright with the room spinning uncontrollably around him. The inevitable pain of such an ordeal was not something he was used to. Always quick to flee from danger, Crispin was just not used to waking up in such a fashion. The memories of the events he had suffered through, not long before waking up with a throbbing headache on an unknown bed, were blurred and foggy as if they had never happened. Crispin was happy to believe such a thing, but could not for the life of him explain this strange room.
The said room was very barren. It seemed to be more of a storage room than a bedroom, and though Crispin did not know it, he was right on the money with that. Boxes were piled halfway up to the ceiling in the left-hand side of the room. The bed was located on the right, underneath a small window that was covered by paper. The door was a tightly closed portal whose floor space was the only clear part of the left-hand side of the room. There was no lighting, and the little light the room did have crept its way through the papered window.
Crispin swung his feet off of the bed and planted them firmly on the cold, cement floor. By way of a quick scan, Crispin was able to make out the outline of something that vaguely resembled shoes, reached for them, and put them on. With that done, Crispin stood and made for the door.
-++++-
"No, no, everything isn't fine. We have a priest lying unconscious on a bed in the middle of one our bases. How could anything be fine?" grumbled a tall, red-haired man.
"Well, we could always tell him we're an organization that checks out run-down apartment buildings," countered a mousy brown haired woman with perfect teeth.
"Oh yeah," snorted the red-haired man. "We're going to tell him we were appraising the buildings with guns."
"Never know. Some pretty crazy ass organizations out there."
"Take a look around you."
"My point exactly."
"Tern, Risa, that's enough," mumbled a third voice. It was low, gruff, and heavy with wisdom acquired from age. The man was older, with graying hair and moustache. "We will merely explain to him the situation."
"Explain the situation to a priest?" exclaimed the spiky, red haired Tern, clearly exasperated.
"Clancy's word is law, Tern," Risa said, but frowned even as the words left her mouth.
"That might be so, but Clancy, this is foolish! The priest is going to think we're loony and is going to try to convert us with all that creepy priesty mumbo jumbo!"
"Don't use that word, Tern," Clancy said, and he looked pained.
"Mumbo jumbo?"
"No, priesty."
"Oh, sorry."
'There's just something...strange about that priest. I can't really put my finger on it. intuition, maybe?' Clancy sighed and put his head in his hands. It really was quite a predicament. But he couldn't have left a man of faith in an old, run-down apartment building like that. He wasn't devout, but Clancy was still a religious man. The older man's only option was to bring him back here. He couldn't carry him all the way back into the nice part of town, and he didn't quite trust any of the neighborhood's inhabitants.
"Maybe we'll try the apartment appraisal thing. Risa's got a point there..." Clancy said with a frown that rivaled Risa's.
"Well, it's better than explaining the situation to him," Tern sighed.
"Situation?" Was the comment that introduced the fourth voice. It was light and airy, but not exactly feminine, either. The inhabitants of the room turned and came face to face with a black haired, blue eyed priest who looked, despite his steady voice, scared shitless.
"Oh, it's nothing, nothing!" Exclaimed Risa with a grin.
The priest just frowned.
"What's your name?" Clancy asked.
"O-oh, Crispin Flynn, sir. I'm the head priest of the Church of Alessandra."
"I see. My name is Clancy Sven Lucian. I run this organization."
"Organization? What do you guys do?"
"On the surface, we don't do anything"
"So then uhm, how is it an organization?"
"He said on the surface, you ditz."
"Tern! He's a holy man! How dare you insult him like that!" Risa exclaimed.
"Oh no, it's quite alright, miss! I'll admit my comment was a bit poorly worded," Crispin chuckled as he waved both hands in front of his chest.
"We hunt...beasts."
"EHH?! I thought we were going with the appraisal story!" Risa yelled, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Beasts?" asked Crispin. He was slightly taken aback.
"See? I told you he wouldn't believe us! Now here comes the conversion junk..." Tern growled.
"It's not that I don't believe you...You'll have to forgive me, I'm just a little surprised. I'd never thought your base would look like this..."
"We are an underground...wait, excuse me?"
"Oh, it's nothing! I thank you for telling me this and everything, but I should probably be on my way now...
'Okay, okay...getting nervous...scary people! Very, very scary...I think they have things covered...bye bye werewolves!'
"No can do, Cross-Boy," Tern said, and grabbed Crispin by the collar.
"Oh....oh?"
"Mr. Flynn. Now that we've told you what we are, we cannot let you leave without first forcing you to vow secrecy." Clancy said.
"Oh, you know I will!" Crispin said, and started to laugh nervously.
'Werewolves...yeah...no...what was I thinking? I'm a loon! Should listen to Thomas! Should always listen to Thomas!'
"It's not as simple as that, Mr Flynn. You must be sworn into our ranks," the moustached man continued.
"Sworn into...? Oh no, sir, you see..I don't do very well with danger and werewolves. No thank you...!"
"Werewolves? I never specified the manner of beasts that we hunted."
'I knew there was something odd about this priest...was he seeking us out? But why in the world would a priest believe in something like werewolves?'
"Oh, so then you aren't the Werewolf Hunters Guild? Oh boy, have I gotten myself into a mess..."
"H-how does this priesty know who we are?!"
"Tern!!"
"Eeeeaahhh!" Crispin squealed and knocked Tern's hand off of his collar.
"Dammit, that hurt! Who knew Cross-Boy had some fight in him?"
"I uhm, don't like that word, Mr. Tern. My apologies."
"The werewolf we encountered earlier was using it," Clancy offered as explanation.
"Crispin, you are now a werewolf hunter."
"J-just like that? But..but wait! No! I-I don't-"
"You were chasing after us, yes? I'm not stupid, Mr. Flynn. So accept the honor and go back to your..."
"Storage room," Tern growled.
-+++-
He was Clancy Sven Lucian, leader of the Werewolf Hunter's Guild. He had once had a life, but now all he had was the guild. He made his living as a lawyer, but there was no longer any joy in the profession. All he cared about was taking down the supernatural.
Clancy had once been happy. He had once had a beautiful wife and son, but he had traded it all for the justice of his city. He wasn't appreciated by anyone except for his subordinates, since at the moment, the Werewolf Hunters Guild was nothing more than a group of vigilantes known to only its members. He supposed the government had probably caught wind of them by now, but they hadn't made any moves against them.
Mr. Lucian was currently sitting in a room in the Century Avenue Base, the base that he had brought the strange priest, Crispin, to. He was tired from the day and didn't feel like retiring to his mansion in the upper-class region of the city.
'I don't know why I did that, today. It wasn't very like me, and rash to be sure. But somehow, it felt like it was what needed to be done. There's just something about that priest...he has a story...
"He'll be about that age now, right? Maybe that priest reminds me of him."
He, of course, was Clancy's son. He hadn't heard from him in years, ever since the man had been, well, a little boy.
'Hmph. It's not good to think about such things. I have a job to do, a job I enjoy doing. And I'm going to do it until it kills me.'
Clancy lay down on his bed, closed his eyes, and quickly drifted off into sleep.
-++-
Crispin, however, wasn't having Clancy's luck. He was back in the box filled storage room and figured he probably would be for the next few days. Maybe.
'Oh my...fighting means using weapons! Taking lives! How in the world could I possibly do that? I mean, knowing the guild exists and wants to kill the werewolves is enough...Oh sure i though the idea of joining sounded cool, but I didn't think it would happen! And now...and now! I have to fight! Kill, even! And this is all probably three shades of illegal...Thomas is going to kill me...And, wait, wasn't today Saturday?!'
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