The Hunt

[Michael Vellas]

Michael had not expected that he would be made to return to the Undercity quite so soon.

The dank claustrophobic tunnels rubbed his nerves raw and the smell made his nose itch. He would have done without the heightened senses that holding the power brought, but his memories of this forsaken place were not exactly pleasant.

He had already fended off two prostitutes who had offered their services for his indigo coat. Even if it wasn't freezing and the coat meant nothing to him he still wouldn't have taken them up on their offer. Like as not he would catch something deadly, and he already had enough people trying to kill him without adding whores to the list.

He had been offered the usual range of drugs as well. He had never been interested in them - he barely drank as it was - but with the power he held the prospect seemed laughable.

What could be more potent, more addicting than the rush of the power singing through his veins? It was so very dangerous, but he was learning - like the young learning how much alcohol they could take without falling over. Except, it would be death if he stumbled with this drug, and he had no intention of falling.

He arrived at his destination, a rusted door with one of those knobs he used to see in the movies. The ones that you had to spin like a wheel to open.

He approached and gave the door a soft knock, which reverberated around the damn tunnel like he had kicked the door in. After much mumbling and cursing, the door squealed and opened, revealing a young woman in a mini-skirt and bra. She looked him up and down with a deliberately seductive gaze.

"I'm afraid I'm not working at the moment. Come back tonight, though, and I'll give you a discount."

She made to shut the door but Michael stopped it in a vice-grip, his rage cold and controlled.

"I am not here for business. I am here to talk,"
he said in a cold voice. "About Katalina Soloyov."


The woman's face drained of colour and she backed herself into the far wall. It was a small room, perhaps as big as two prison cells. She had little more than a bed and a collection of trinkets which had no value aside from the sentimental.

"K-Kat? I don't know anything about that! She just disappeared, I swear." It seemed that murdering one's neighbours was a common accusation around these parts. Michael could not remember much beyond his training in the Undercity. It was all cared about at the time.

"Tell me what you know,"
he said, not taking his eyes from hers.

"Like I said... I don't know much. She just disappeared."

"And you heard nothing? You saw nothing?"


"I was working..." she took a breath, wringing her hands.

"Do not lie to me,"
he said, regretting how it made her wince even as it happened. "Katalina may still be alive. If you hide anything from me, I will kill you."


Simple words, so simple, yet they tore at his heart. He would not relent though. He would not see an innocent woman dead because some whore was afraid he would call the Custody of Defence.

The woman sat down on the bed with an audible sigh. "I...I only saw shadows... I heard something like screaming... I'm not sure. I was high...It could have been a bad trip."

"What did you see in the shadows? Did you hear anything said?"
he pressed.

"Shapes...people. You know, the usual. I don't remember words. Just screaming. Terrible screaming." The woman shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Is there anyone who would want to attack Katalina?"


The woman laughed although she looked like she was about to cry. "This is the Undercity. Half of the place would jump at the chance to get a hold of a pretty girl like her, but nobody had tried for a long time. The last idiot who did got his cock cut in half."

"So she was not defenceless?"


"Are you an idiot? Any young girl around here needs to learn to defend herself or she ends up in a whorehouse worked like a slave."

Michael mused on what Tony had said. "What about strange tales? Unusual occurrences - even for the Undercity
," he scanned her face for any reaction as he spoke. "Ghosts, demons, monsters, cannibals."


There. He saw the hint of fear in her eye at the last one. "Cannibals, then. Tell me, what do they say about people eating human flesh?"


She was reluctant, but he held her gaze until she answered. "Stories... Rumours. Rapes, disappearances. They say that one woman had a chunk of her arm eaten while she was raped. All kinds of tales, none of them are ever true though." She didn't seem convinced.

"Where do these things happen, anywhere specific?"


She shook her head. "Happens all over the Undercity, it doesn't matter where you go, you will hear strange tales. People vanish in the middle of the night without a trace, that kind of shit."

Taken in the night. Alone.

Michael walked out of the room, and turned before he closed the door. "Thank you for your help, I shall remember it."


He didn't wait for a reply. He strode down the tunnel, the power raging through him. Tonight, he would be taking stroll, it seemed.