Chapter 1: Victorian

"Are you ready?" Roz asked handing her brother Avery his bag. It was a gift she had given him when he turned fifteen, but it wasn't until recently that he began using it. He hadn’t really had a reason to. It wasn't his fault though, most parents don't let their kids carry around loaded weapons, their parents were no different even if they were hunters. He opened it and began equipping the knives inside into their holsters strapped all around his upper body. She looked herself over in the reflection of her SUV. Her hair seemed more golden in the midafternoon light, it made her smile. She pulled it tightly into a ponytail. She was not going to let it get in her way this time. When she was happy w9ith how it looked he started to arm herself as well. She had parked behind a large dumpster to make sure nobody saw them. Pulling out a bunch of weapons in broad daylight was not well accepted by most normal people. "Everything needs to go smoothly." She lectured tugging on her jacket, leather of course. Hunters have a thing for leather. Mostly because it makes them feel more badass, but it also helped protect their skin from anything sharp while fighting. She zipped it up enough so that it would fall of with quick movements but so she could still get her weapons quickly from underneath it. "None of that freezing up crap!" She warned. Her younger brother rolled his eyes, the thought of Roz scolding him was laughable. She had made all of the same mistakes he had made at his age. She was only a few years older, she had no authority over him. She always played the older sibling card on him as if being three years older meant she had a substantial amount of life experience more than he did.

"Roz, I was fourteen!" He scoffed. Not to mention it had been his first hunt ever. “That was seven years ago.” Of course she was bringing this up now minutes before they were about to start. "Besides nobody died." She gave him an emotionless face and handed him several guns to hide under his clothing. The cold metal on his skin made him shiver but his body heated them up after a few seconds. She stuffed her silver chain into her sleeve. Her weapon of choice. They both liked unconventional forms of attacks. They felt it gave them a small edge when fighting one on one.

"Ave, this is our first hunt by ourselves, no parents." She took her necklace with their family emblem and hid it under her shirt. He did the same, if they came across the wrong people their pendants would be a dead giveaway of who they really were. Their mom had given the necklaces to them as children, they were small circles with very fancy, very detailed B's in the center of them. B for Bishops. Bishops was a legendary name in the hunting and supernatural community. Roslyn and Avery had a lot resting on their shoulders, soon they would be expected to take over and lead as their parents the generation before them. At least Roz was. The big hunting families in the community were big on family bloodlines. The majority of the families went back hundreds of years, several generations. Some of them weren't very ecstatic when the Bishops clan decided to adopt the little Latino orphan leftover from one of their hunts. Avery's birth mother had been killed by a pack of something's, he didn't know anything about his birth father. His adoptive parents constantly reminded him that despite his DNA he was a Bishops none the less. He had to constantly remind himself of that growing up. Luckily it was nice he had a tough older sister who beat anyone up who said otherwise. Even if he basically towered over her now. She always talked about being tall for a girl. 5'8" was taller than most girls but at 6'2" she still came up short compared to him. Unless she wore her beloved hooker heels, which she often did.

"I'll try my best captain, my captain!" He saluted her mockingly. She smiled shaking her head and placed an arm around his shoulder and lead him away from her SUV. He heard her lock the doors as they walked away.

"Look, if we pull this off successfully, we will be the first of our generation to be off on our own." They slowly made their way down the streets of Milwuakee. It was quiet for the most part. All they heard was their own footsteps. There was not many people out which would be good for them in case things got out of hand. "We could show the others that we are not a duo to be messed with." She steered him around the corner towards their destination. It was an old Victorian home, abandoned, and foreclosed years ago. It was now crawling with ghouls. "I know you want to have something like that to hold over the others' heads." She laughed. She was right. Bragging rights were the most important thing for them from this situation. "We are the best of the best, it’s time to prove it." The Victorian kept getting closer as they walked. It was bigger than he had expected. It looked just like any abandoned home they had seen in movies growing up, dirty, dead grass, boarded windows. It was a little cliché to be honest. Sometimes supernatural creatures were a little too predictable. They kept their eyes peeled as they approached the living Hollywood cliché. To those around them, they seemed like any two other people just talking and joking around but they were making sure that there was no other supernatural creatures in the area. Being ill-prepared was the number one reason for a hunter's death. They had really only prepared for a nest of ghouls. Any surprise monsters and their first hunt could be their last.

Ghouls were essentially mindless zombies with an appetite for flesh. This specific nest had been luring innocent people into one of the nearby cemeteries to kill and eat. Ten people in the city of Milwaukee had been found there torn to shreds. The local police had ruled them as animal attacks but hunters knew better. Eventually the cemetery became too dangerous for the ghouls and they relocated to this Victorian. Several more deaths had occurred in the area surrounding this home. Roz and Avery had watched the area for several days and decided now was the time to go-with their father's approval of course. They may have been alone but they had their parents there almost every step of the way for support and Intel. They had counted at least six ghouls living in the Victorian.

"Let's do this." She said placing her hand on her gun. He took one last scan of the area before opening the door for her. It was their usual plan of attack, she went in first to make sure the immediate area was clear while he kept his eyes behind them to avoid surprise attacks from getting them. They stayed back to back with their weapons held steady directly in front of them. The front door lead into a large foyer with archways leading in several different directions. She remained in place so he could check the first archway. He moved towards the one farthest on the right, it was the parlor room. Or at least it used to be. The place was a mess, garbage and debris everywhere, it looked like a bomb had gone off inside. The walls smeared with what looked like charcoal. Couch stuffing lay all over the ground, the couch was nowhere to be found.

"Clear." He whispered back stepping towards her and turning to the next archway, it led to a large solarium. The once beautiful stained glass windows were now boarded up with only slivers of light fighting through to the inside. The room was as repulsive as the last. As gross as it looked he pushed passed the aesthetics and searched for anything that moved. Nothing. "Clear." He repeated turning slightly to the last archway. It looked like what used to be a dining room. The table was still intact but the chairs lay shattered around it. Glass covering the majority of the floor. A chandelier dangled from the ceiling from a very small wire. Avery expected it to come collapsing down any second now. Besides all of that the room was also clear. He walked back to his sister. "Roz, it smells musty and like mildew in here." He said disgusted. Roz scanned the area one last time. She nodded towards the stairs leading to the second story.

"Of course it does, it’s an abandoned house." She started walking towards it.

"Yes," He said slowly as if talking to a child, "but ghouls are supposed to smell of rotten flesh." He pointed towards the dining room pointing to the door at the other end. He wanted to keep searching the first floor before moving to the second. "This place should reek." That got her to stop and think. "We should find the basement that has to be where the nest is." He suggested. She nodded and the two moved towards the door. She stopped right in front of it and counted to three to ready as they readied themselves. He opened the door slowly. Nothing. They walked into an empty kitchen. Things were not going as they had expected.

"This is turning out to be really boring." Roz sighed looking around and kicking a piece of plywood over. It must have fallen from one of the boarded windows. Not that it made a difference for the room, the uncovered window was layered in so much dirt it might as well have been the ply wood.

"Do you think that they knew we were watching them and left?" He opened the pantry closest to the door. He wiped his hand on his jeans, just touching the handle to the pantry had it covered in dust. Roz walked over to a door on the opposite end of the room.

"The basement is over here." She pointed into the small room past the doorway. "Let's check here first." He began to approach her but was stopped when he heard movement from behind the island several feet to the right of them. He mouthed the word "cover" to her and turned slowly on his heels towards the island. He made his way around it making the least amount of noise as possible. He finally reached the other side to see nothing. Disappointed once again.

"Raccoon." Roz laughed softly pointing to a gray lump scurrying out of the room. Wow what a movie cliché, a false scare. Seriously this Victorian sucked.

"This IS boring." He said leaning on the island. He sat and watched annoyed as the raccoon scratched the dining room door until it opened enough for it to squeeze itself out. It reminded him of his old cat Figgy, he used to do that. Avery wiped the dirt from his hip, just leaning on the island left his side covered in dirt. He heard Roz grunt followed by her body flying across the room. "Roz!" He turned to go to her when he noticed a large figure stood at the back entrance. Stench immediately filled the room. He had to hold the the need to gag back long enough to make sure his sister was okay. He couldn't go to her without coming in direct contact with the thing, but he could keep a watch in her. He could try to keep the thing away from her. Thankfully she was already picking herself up. The ghoul was already moving towards her, its limbs were all gangly and gaunt. He was surprised that this creature could even hold itself up without breaking in half. Ghouls may usually be slow and dumb witted but in a fight they were still very dangerous. He knew he needed to distract it long enough for Roz to lift herself up and find the gun she dropped when she went flying across the room. He found a broken bottle behind the island. It would do the trick. He took it and whipped it at the ghoul. It hit the ghoul's head. He had expected the bottle to shatter like in the movies but instead it just made a clunking sound. The hit made the ghoul’s neck twitch. It was a funny sight. He had to stifle a laugh considering the creature turned its attention to him. He slowly moved behind the island, if it charged at him it would either have to run around or jump over it, giving Avery an extra second to attack. He put his gun back in its holster and reached for his throwing knives. He couldn't shoot at it with Roz standing directly behind it. He could injure her and blow the whole hunt for them. Knives were his best bet. The ghoul lunged at him. He reached back and swung it forward releasing the silver knife at the creature. Silver worked amazingly against the supernatural. Something in its chemical compound affected a large amount supernatural creatures. It was a metal and metal was one of the five cleansers that hunters used to hunt. Fire, water, wood, earth, and metal. Supernatural creatures tended to be born from beliefs, beliefs were also what caused their deaths. The knife slashed through the thing's thigh causing it to lose its footing as it jumped over the island. It fell slamming its face hard on the granite counter. A large cracking sound filled the room but no damage was left on the granite. The crunching sound was enough to make Avery cringe in pain. He shook the cringing away and readied his second knife. The ghoul stood, growling at him as best as it could with it's now shattered jaw. The thigh that he has cut into with his knife was beginning to turn black-effect of the silver.

"Cut off it's head."The young hunter whispered to himself. Severing a ghouls spinal cord was the only confirmed way to kill it, that and fire or course. Fire works on anything to be honest. It was the most effective of the five elements. Just throwing knives were not going to cut it, he had to fight it up close. He drew another knife and moved around to the same side of the island as the ghoul. It turned to him with its now maimed leg not cooperating with the rest of its body. It struggled to take a step towards Avery. Avery lunged at its legs. Attacking it's leg would be the easiest way bring this thing down. His knife sliced its other leg as Avery slid by it causing it to fall to its knees. He quickly turned and jammed the knife into its shoulder. He felt the curved blade of the knife slice through all the tendons and some bones in the things shoulder. The ghoul howled in agony. He twisted the knife and forced the ghoul down, flat into the ground. He pinned it down with his legs. Roz ran towards the two but was derailed when another ghoul tackled her from the kitchen's back entrance. Avery looked over to see his sister holding back a ghoul back with a broken piece of two-by-four jammed into its mouth. Roz was a strong woman but she was still struggling with holding the ghoul at bay.

"The others must have heard the howling when you stabbed it!" She yelled finally managing to kick the ghoul off of her. The ghoul landed a few feet away from her. They both scrambled to their feet. "The rest will be up here in seconds!" Avery drew his knife out of his ghoul's shoulder and thrusted it into it's neck right below its skull, he felt the spinal cord snap. The ghoul thrashed around for a few seconds then stopped. Roz swung the two-by-four at full force breaking the other ghoul's arm as it reached for her with its deranged claws. Avery threw his knife at the thing aiming for it's head. The ghoul moved and the knife hit the wall a few inches from its face. It turned growling at him giving Roz the chance to aim her gun at it. The ghoul heard the safety click on her pistol."Bye bye." She said shooting it between the eyes. The ghoul fell motionless to the ground.

"The silencer kind of killed the dramatic moment." Avery said walking over and pulling his knife out of the wall. A chunk of the wall fell of where he hit it exposing wiring and decaying insulation.

"At least it won't disturb the neighbors." She shrugged and nodded at the back entrance pointing her gun at it. Avery followed her lead and drew his own pistol. There was no need to hold his gun back now that they were both on the same side of the room.The door lead to a laundry room with the basement door at the other end. The basement was pitch black. They heard clicking, the type of sound a dog makes when walking on hardwood flooring. There was no way that either of them was going down there.

"Flare." Avery whispered pulling out a stick and twisting the top of it off. The flare was blindingly bright, he waited for his eyes to stop hurting from the dilation. Once the pain went away he tossed it down the stairs. The brightness felt imprinted in his eyes. The flare rolled down each step illuminating the room below them more and more as it fell. They could hear scuffling from beneath followed by several growls. One figure approached it, the light exposing it's horrid decayed face to the two hunters. It touched the flare and recoiled back hissing when it's fingers were burned. Roz whistled to get it's attention. It looked up at the two hunters immediately running on all fours towards when it recognized a possible meal. Roz shot it twice. The first bullet shattering it's wrist. The second hit its head spewing black goo all over the floor below it. They heard a roar of anger from below. Avery pushed Roz behind him and knelt beneath her, both of them aiming directly down the stairs. Six more ghouls appeared at the bottom of the steps, all of their dead beady eyes on them. They all charged at the same time, their limbs all entangling with each other only slowing them down. The siblings began to fire at the group. Two of the ghouls fell dead immediately. The others continued to climb leaving them behind. Avery shot another in the shoulder causing it to fall, the others climbed over it smashing it's face into the concrete steps. It seemed the ghouls were doing half the work for them. The last three continued to gain on them only a few feet away. Roz shot her last round but neither of them was sure where the bullet landed. She reached into her jacket pulling out another clip of ammunition.

"Reloading." She yelled over all of the growling. Her brother shot one more bullet at the ghouls knocking one of them back but not killing it. He aimed at the other two and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He pulled it again. Nothing.

"It's jammed!" He yelling trying one last time. Still nothing. "Roz, it's jammed." He said moving back to avoid the claw of one of the ghouls. They had reached the top of the stairs. He fell back hitting Roz’s legs making her lose her balance. She dropped her clip some of the bullets fell out. "Move back." Her brother yelled crab crawling away from the oncoming monsters. He kicked one of the ghouls back getting his leg scratched in the process. He pulled one of his knives out and slashed at them, slitting one of their throats. Not that slicing their throat did anything to slow them down. One of them, one that Avery had assumed to be female clawed across my chest taking part of his shirt with it, luckily it only left surface scratches on him. He wasn't too worried a person can't turn into a ghoul, not till after they are dead. He swung his knife again. The ghoul's must have recognized the silver because they hissed leaning away from it. He was waiting for his sister to reload and start firing again.

"Get down!" Roz shouted swinging her silver chain. Apparently reloading her gun was out of the question with the bullets on the ground. The chain cut the female ghouls face with ease. She swung again with more momentum letting the chain fully extend. It wrapped around the ghoul's neck. She pulled it towards her forcing the ghoul to fall. Avery rolled to the side away from the female and focused on the other two. He lifted his pant leg and pulled his second pistol aiming it one of the creatures' face. He shot it and covered his face from the explosion of black goo. He saw the head of the female ghoul slowly rolled towards him. He made a sickened noise and kicked it away, it rolled down the stairs bouncing a couple of times. Roz was already swinging her chain focused on the last ghoul. She wrangled it to the ground. Avery elbowed its head into the ground using all of his weight to smash it down. He drew his knife again and punctured the back of its skull. It shrieked, well more like gurgled into a pool of it's own black goo for a few seconds then died. The two hunters sat there in silence for about thirty seconds, trying to breathe but mostly waiting to see if anymore ghouls were coming at them. Nothing attacked. The room was covered in black ichor. They were covered in black ichor. Avery pulled out a handkerchief from inside his jacket and wiped his face. He made sure to only dirty half of it and handed it to his sister when he was done. She used the other half leaving the white linen piece of fabric completely stained.

"We look really hot right now, not gonna lie." Avery said laughing and sitting up against the wall. He folded the handkerchief and placed it back in his pocket. His sister scooted down next to him and laughed leaning on his shoulder. Her blonde hair was matted with streaks of black in it. She pulled out her phone.

"Picture!" She said in a sing-songy voice. The flash of her camera hurt his eyes."Let's finish up and get out of here." She pushed herself up and holding a hand out for her younger brother. "We can call Dad, and he can call the cleaners to take care of the bodies." She motioned to the lifeless gaunt ghouls on the ground. Avery looked through the room collecting all of his throwing knives and set them back in their holsters. They continued to search the rest of the house to be sure we had got them all, They had. Once sure they were done, they cleaned themselves enough to avoid unwanted attention and quickly made their way back to her SUV. Once they locked themselves in their motel room they contacted their father who called for cleaners to take care of the area. He also pulled strings to get the home knocked down to avoid another nest of ghouls from happening. They ordered takeout after they had each showered and called it a night. The next day they would head back home to Chicago. For now they needed to rest.