Chapter 8: Secret Exposed

Chapter 8: Secret Exposed The mysterious hunter was... strange. With his Demon Eyes, Damian could see the hunter’s aura more clearly, and it resembled that of a demon. It wasn’t at all similar to Troy’s aura. "Was this hunter actually a demon or what?" Damian wondered. Troy, on the other hand, couldn’t see what Damian was seeing. That was unique to him and his Demon Eyes. For Troy, the aura emanating from that man was clearly that of a hunter, not a demon. "You’re not that much stronger than me," Troy said, "are you sure you want to fight? Is it worth it?" The hunter stood there without saying a word. His face was hidden by a mask, so there was no way of knowing what he was thinking. "I’m not going to lie, you do have a point. And knowing you hunters, your backup is already on its way to get me," the man said, "so let’s call it even, shall we?" The hunter tossed the plastic bags toward Troy and, at the same time, moved away. The demonic dog that was with him vanished completely, as if it had never been there. As for the supposed hunter, he jumped through the window and left. Troy exited the warehouse, carrying the plastic bags with the dead man’s parts. Damian had already deactivated his Demon Eyes. His left eye was back to normal, but Troy had seen it. "What was that with your eye? I thought you didn’t have mana," Troy asked. Damian didn’t know what to say. "I don’t, kind of. Please, can you keep this a secret?" There were no excuses he could think of that would make Troy believe him, so Damian resorted to the only thing he had: Troy’s friendship. They had just met, so Damian wasn’t confident, but surprisingly, Troy said, "Alright, no problem. But if you ever become dangerous to me or anyone at the company I work for, then I’ll personally kill you." "That’s good enough for me. Thank you," Damian said. Troy gave him a slap on the back. "And do cheer up. We actually got the missing parts." Troy had been terrified they wouldn’t find the missing parts of that man. If they failed, it would cause serious problems—maybe even disaster. Even Damian, usually unshakable, felt a chill after hearing Troy’s explanation. But now, everything was fine... assuming Troy could keep Damian’s secret ability to himself. Damian just hoped—no, prayed—the man had enough sense to stay quiet. They loaded the plastic bags containing the dead man’s remains back into the car and finally headed to where they should have gone earlier - the hunters’ headquarters building. During the drive, Damian kept waiting for Troy to bring up his special eye again, but the man never mentioned it. The silence between them felt heavy with things left unsaid. When they arrived, a group of hunters came out to meet them, including their boss Nataly. Her worried expression quickly turned stern as she looked them over. "Did you get all the body parts? Are you two okay?" she asked, moving closer to inspect Damian first before turning sharply to Troy. "And why the hell were you two in that part of the city anyway?" Troy let out a tired sigh. "Damian, take the remains to storage. I’ll talk to Nataly and explain everything." Damian was glad to leave. As the cleaner, handling explanations wasn’t his job. That responsibility always fell to Troy. The headquarters building housed multiple offices for the hunters, though at this late hour only a few were still occupied. Damian walked past several hunters who glanced his way, but he just nodded silently and kept moving. His destination was the temporary storage area for crime scene remains. The heavy iron door had a simple "Refrigerator" sign beside it. When Damian opened it, a blast of cold air made him shiver violently. Inside, the procedure was straightforward - all remains were organized by date. This system made it easier when families came to claim their loved ones’ parts. Damian carefully tagged each bag with today’s date, then logged everything in the computer outside so the storage manager would have proper records. With his task complete, Damian left the chilly room. Outside the building, he found Troy leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. "How’d it go with Nataly?" Damian asked. Troy exhaled smoke. "Could’ve been worse. She’s angry about me taking you to that bar, but it’ll pass. At least we found all the pieces - that’s what really matters." The worst-case scenario would’ve been not finding the body parts—and facing the consequences. But luckily, things had worked out. "What did you think about that hunter?" Damian asked. "I thought it was weird he was there in the first place, and even weirder that he wanted body parts. That dog he summoned was strange too. Why do you ask?" Troy seemed like someone Damian could trust—at least for now. After all, he had kept the secret of Damian’s Demon Eye. If he’d wanted to, he could’ve reported it to Nataly, and things might’ve gotten complicated. "That eye of mine—it’s not just for show," Damian said. "I can see traces of mana. That’s how I found that warehouse. But here’s the thing... the mana traces from that hunter? They weren’t from a hunter. They were demonic." Troy narrowed his eyes slightly, processing what he’d just heard. "That guy wasn’t a hunter," Damian continued. "He was a demon." "Wait a second," Troy said, visibly shocked. "Are you sure? Because to me, his mana felt just like a hunter’s. Nothing demonic about it." "I’m absolutely sure," Damian replied. "That’s what’s been bothering me. How could a demon appear so human? And if you couldn’t tell he was a demon, doesn’t that mean they might already be walking among us—pretending to be human, living within our society?" Damian already suspected that was possible, especially after his encounter with the demon at the cabin. Seeing this new one at the warehouse only made his theory stronger. "This is serious... Keep that to yourself, at least for now." "Of course. I won’t tell anyone," Damian said. After that, Troy offered to drive Damian home. On the way there, unlike their previous conversations, neither of them said a word. Troy seemed deep in thought, still processing what Damian had told him. The next day, a tragedy struck the building where Damian lived.