The cab I'd gotten into on my way to Cologne Cathedral was filthy. The air inside of it tasted like cigarette smoke on a warm day, and the constant watchful wary eyes of the cab driver felt even worse. I suppose it can't be helped.
A girl like me, covered in blood, alone at this hour of the night. Anyone wouldn't be able to help but stare.
The cab driver sadly only spoke German so he wasn't exactly a sparkling conversationalist, but he understood what I meant when I said "Take me to Cologne Cathedral and shoved a crumpled ball of 20 dollar bills in his face.
He wasn't the type to ask questions, I suppose he'd probably seen his fair share of freaky things being this close to The Order's base of operations. Probably saw other hunters coming and going or gave them rides to and from the cathedral, maybe ever covered in blood as she was.
I watched the people through the dingy window of the cab as we passed through the city. I saw drunken revelers, party goers, and oddly a lone clergyman trying to help a man who'd obviously gotten too hammered to stand. None of them knew what they were standing a mere few blocks away from.
A few blocks later the cab arrived in front of the cathedral and I stepped out, careful not to snag my dress on the cab's door. More so to protect the cab, not the dress.
The Dress of The Damned almost fully blended in with the cool calm darkness that surrounded me in the dead of night. If it wasn't for the blood stains I suppose the dress would fully camouflage into the night.
I didn't look back at the cab as i walked up the cathedral steps. The large ornate doors began to open at my presence as they did for all people, the inside however was a different story. I don't know which, or who's, Holy Arm was the reason for it but the cathedral was two different spaces at once.
For the normal city goers it was a place of normal everyday worship and tourists, but for us hunters it was a base of operations that was hidden in plain sight.
I walked down the ornate isle passed a few hunters who's faces I didn't recognize. I walked till i came to the opening a large worship room with a row a pews down it where an old priest sat smoking a cigar.
The smell of the smoke mixed with the scent of holy incense and burning wood from a fire place in the center of the altar a good ways away.
I walked down the pews and sat one behind him as I said, "smoking in a place like this? One way ticket to getting on Gods bad side."
I couldn't see his face but I heard Father Gregory let out a small harsh mocking laugh.
"Any faith I had in God was lost a long time ago kid, you know that. How'd the job go?" He said, straight to business as he always was.
I stifled a laugh at the thought of a holy man who no longer believed in God like Father Gregory didn't as i said, "job went well, all targets neutralized mostly without incident."
Gregory choked on a cough, and took his cigar out from his mouth.
"Mostly? What do you mean mostly?" Father Gregory asked looking back over the pew.
"Well...let's just say you might have to deploy a few memory veils over in Prague." Memory veils were apart of Father Gregory's Holy Arm, it was why he was so well respected in The Order.
"You know that's not how they work...Well no matter, we'll just disperse information that it was a gas leak that tore up the bar."
I leaned back on the pew and unfurled my arms, doing some much needed stretching. "So what's the situation you wanted to talk to me about?"
I said, slight irritation lacing my tone. It was typical for most Hunters to take on maybe one job per week, but recently The Order had been mandating that we take on two or more.
'So irritating...' I thought to myself.
"As you know The Order is going through a bit of a recession, new hunters are quitting and old ones keep dying...so we're going to be having you train a new recruit to show him the ropes." Gregory took a long drag off of his cigar, God knows he was going to need it.
"WHAT?!" Rose shouted in the quiet cathedral. "You can't be serious?! You know damn well I don't do partners, let alone baby sitting some newbie who doesn't know a specter from a poltergeist." Hunters also dabbled in exorcisms, though those were my least favorite types of missions.
"It wasn't a request Rose, it's a direct order. You'll be meeting him tonight, so be ready to make a good first impression, and wipe that fucking scowl off your damn face."
Despite Gregory's berating I did not in fact wipe the scowl off of my damn face as continued in protest before a hand touched me on the shoulder. I immediately had my hand at my cross ready for action as I turned around to see...
A tall boy with short swept over white hair in a nice Order mandated suit and tie, he had a scared look on his face as if he knew approaching me from behind was a one way ticket to losing an arm.
"Ah good you're here Luca, this is Rose. She'll be the one training you in the ways of a Hunter."
"Its-its an honor to meet you miss Marie, you're a legend around-"
"Yeah, yeah I'm your regular hometown hero around here kid." I interrupted him as I turned away and looked to Father Gregory. If he was giving me some newbie to train he definitely had a low-level job waiting for us too.
"So, what's the job Father?"