[gutterpupper]

"I think this is a bad idea."

"You would say that."

Both of them stood behind the bar, looking out at the small open floor where a handful of men and woman sat, eating, drinking and planning their next hunt. It would only get busier in a few hours as the evening approached when other hunters would wake from their eventless slumber to continue their work. The inn, the Grunt's Call, was a central beehive for hunters all around the area, locals or those passing through on their chase.

"And why wouldn't I? It's a crazy idea. You're no hunter!"

"How do you think they all started out Melissa? They had to start somewhere!"

"Yeah, Matthew, with training!"

She had been trying to convince him for a week not to go out, not to become one of them ever since he mentioned it. They had been good friends for a couple of years since both met after being hired by the owner. They had some exposure to the demon world beforehand; Matthew had been adopted after his father was killed by a shapeshifter and his mother put into a mental hospital and Melissa came from a family of magic users who specialized in spells and curses used to aid the hunters and the hunted.

"I've trained and been show the basic by some of the people who've came through. I just need to put that into practise."

"By going on your own for the first time?"

“It’s better than getting in the way of someone who is more experienced.”

Melissa grabbed Matthew by his shoulders, shaking him roughly, hoping to make her young friend’s marbles fall into place.

“You can’t do this on your own. This is not the way to do it.”

Matthew shook his head as he flinched his shoulders to get loose of her grip.

“I can do this. I got this,” he said as he smiled at one of the hunters at the bar coming up to be served.

- - -

11.34PM. It was time. There weren’t many people in the inn’s bar and it was perfect time for him to go. He hadn’t told anyone else of his departure except Melissa. He was sure she would be able to find a good reason for him disappearing. Packing a few more materials he had pilfered over the last few weeks into a back pack he was ready to go as he opened the window and hopped out into the darkness.