Chapter 2: Moods

The two young hunters arrived home by midmorning the next day. Their first solo hunt had gone well and nobody had died. Their mother had been worried and tried to stop it every step of the way. So it was no surprise that she was waiting for them at the door when they arrived. The elevator door had barely opened completely before she bombarded them with questions and looked each of them over to make sure they had all of their limbs. She pulled them into a hug, Avery had to hold the elevator door open, since she hadn't let them step out yet.

"Hey Mom," He said smiling. He couldn't blame her for worrying, it is what mothers do after all. Their maid Stacey came into the room and took their bags.

"Thanks Stace." Roz said pulling her jacket off, which Stacey also took. She disappeared with their bags, headed to the laundry room surely. "Where is Dad?" Roz asked flopping down on the couch. He mother smacked the back of her head when she put her feet on the coffee table.

"He is in his office arranging things for your party." He mom answered excitedly. "He is so proud of you two." Roz and Avery made mock surprised faces at each other. Of course their dad was throwing a party.

"A party really isn't necessary." Avery said letting himself fall into the big fluffy cushions. He felt his body relax completely into it. The motel they had stayed at had horrible beds.

"You're the first of your generation to have your own hunt." His mom reminded. "And you both survived, it is a big deal." She was all smiles. She was proud of her children, they had done it. In the hunting world being off on your own hunt was like becoming an adult. Like a supernatural bar mitzvah.

"Yeah," Roz sat forward. "But he's doing this to show off to the other families."

"He just wants to rub it in their faces." Avery added staring at the ceiling. He had never really noticed how tall their apartment really was. They lived in a penthouse in down town Chicago. Their family was loaded from generations and generations of hunting. He wasn't entirely not sure how they acquired all of the money since they didn't charge people to help with their supernatural problems, but he did know that when he turned twenty-one he inherited a portion of it. Ninety-Five million to be exact. All of the major hunting families in the world were wealthy. Sometimes he felt like he lived in one of those Real Housewives shows because some of the hunters couldn't help but flaunt it in front of the rest how much better they were than them.

"There they are!" They heard their father's voice from behind them. "My amazing hunter children!" Roz and Avery smiled and stood as he walked towards them. "How was it?" He asked pulling them into a tight hug.

"You know," Avery sighed dramatically. "The ghouls growled at us, so we cut their heads off." His father laughed loudly squeezing his shoulder.

"I want to know everything!" He said leading them towards the sectional couches.

"It was kind of fun." Roz admitted. "In a crazy psycho way, I guess." She sat next to him. Their mom sat between Avery and her husband and listening to Roz telling a hit by hit of the whole encounter. Roz's green eyes lit up with excitement as she spoke. She had the light eyes like both their parents, the blonde hair to finish their matching looks. Avery was the one who stuck out with his black hair, brown eyes and dark bronze skin. His looks were never something he worried about, except when it came to meeting up with the other families. He was the only child of non "royal" blood as they like to call it. He was adopted from some common place, they acted as if it was disdainful just to think about it. His parents made sure he knew he was a Bishops and nothing could change that, he was meant to be one. He had spaced out and missed most of Roz's story. He just heard his parents laughing and his father saying some sort of praise. He was brought back to when his mother squeezed his knee smiling at him. He smiled back. Roz must have finished her story because his father was starting to speak.

"One week from today." Their father said standing up. "One week, and we can celebrate." He smiled turning towards them. He looked at them expecting excited faces. The two siblings just looked at each other hesitantly. Their father ignored them and continued. "All of the big families will be here to celebrate you." Avery side-eyed his sister already dreading the other's arrivals. "I will go finish the arrangements, and you two need to go out and get outfits. He handed his son one of the family black cards and left. When it came to gathering for the "Royals" money was never a concern. Well it was-but only because they wanted to spend a lot to remind them all how rich they were.

"Let's go tomorrow." Avery said falling back into the cushions. "I've had enough of hunting things down for a few days, much less clothing." His sister lay down on the other end of the sectional huffing out an agreement. They spent the majority of their day channel surfing, only breaking away from the couch to train for a few hours. Training was always a priority.

Avery spent the entirety of the next day shopping with his sister. She wasn't sure which dress she would wear to the party. She was obsessed with getting the right one, she had narrowed it down to five. As much as the "royal" families like to talk about honor, code, and decorum, they were extremely petty when it came to showing off. They all wanted to be the best and in higher standing than the rest. As much as the Bishops siblings hated it they couldn't say they never took part in it, but at least they could admit how petty they could be. As of the day before their family was in higher ranking because of the two of them. That was really what this whole celebration thing was about for their parents, to make sure the rest knew that the Bishops children were better than theirs. It was crucial for Roz and Avery to be the best dressed, the best behaved, just the best all around. Their clothing had to be the most expensive and unique of all. Roz stood in front of the mirror twirling back and forth to see how her dress would move. The attendant placed a chair down so she could sit and make sure nothing showed when she did. It was always important to perform a sit test when getting a new dress. She had learned that mistake the hard way.

"This is it!" She exclaimed turning to her brother. "What do you think?" She always asked for his opinion, she didn't have any sisters so she worked with what she had. Avery stood on the opposite end of the room looking at jewelry. He had figured all of the guys attending would wear ties or bow ties and he needed to change things up. He had already set aside a necklace with several layers of large stones. The woman helping them called it a statement piece, and he definitely needed to make a statement. He was still looking at possible cuff links and maybe a bracelet to go with the necklace.

"Whichever it is I'm sure it’s fine Roz," He mumbled holding his hair back. Thinking that a matching ponytail clip would be good too.

"Just look at it, jerk!" She stomped. He turned to see. It was a nude tulle dress with "strategically" placed beads and sequin in different shades of red to cover her areas. It had a very high slit on the right side. It was a nice dress, just not the dress someone wants to see their own sister in.

"Does it really need the high slit?" He asked turning back to the mirror. He wasn't very prudish when it came to his sister’s fashion choices but there was such a thing as overkill. "I mean you are already basically naked with how sheer that tulle is."

"Yes or no." She asked sternly.

"It's great." He responded. "It's slutty, it's shiny." He pulled his hair back again. "Rich people talk for expensive." He laughed. "And you know the other parents won't let their daughters wear something like that."

"Thank god Mom and Dad are so recklessly progressive." She laughed twirling one last time. "I'm glad you like it, cuz I am tired of changing." She turned and headed to back into the changing room.

"I love it, which means that they will hate it." Avery handed the jewelry he had chosen along with his father's black card to the store clerk helping them. “Thank you." He smiled beginning to gather my things.

"Don't forget to tip yourself for helping us!" Roz said peeking out from the changing room, the woman nodded and left the room. About a minute later Roz stepped out wearing her street clothes again jeans and a very tight t-shirt. She put her family emblem back on.

"I lost mine." He whispered pointing to it. "I think that ghoul that ripped my shirt ripped my necklace too." He sighed sitting on the nearest bench. "Mom cannot find out or she will kill me."

"I got another you can have." His sister answered fixing her hair in the mirror. "I had several made a few years ago to avoid being killed myself." She smiled still looking herself over. Roslyn was definitely resourceful.

They spent the next few days training in their family's facility, and researching other possible hunts around the U.S. Their parents had plenty of connections to find the one, but they wanted to find one for themselves. It was a bit harder than they anticipated since they were never training on research and sourcing the hunts themselves.

Avery felt weird the entire week leading up to the party. He was constantly uncomfortable. One minute He was self-conscious, doubting his every move, the next he felt like he was on top of the world. He had no idea what was going on and brushed it off as nerves. He had the right to be nervous, after all he was going to be facing about twenty people who were angry at him for doing better than them despite his "social handicaps." Still, he couldn't help but worry, usually nerves made him jumpy and sweaty not moody. Roz on the other hand was completely fine about the whole thing. Not because she wanted it to happen but because no matter what happened she and her brother were in this together.

Finally the day he had been dreading arrived. Both sibling just wanted to get it over with. Their mother hired a hair and makeup artist to prepare them for the night. They were both forced to stay upstairs when the guests began to arrive. Eventually their dad would announce them, like some southern belle debutantes. They were sitting on the edge of the rail upstairs. It reminded me of when they were children and eavesdropping on the adults. The first to arrive was the Cruz family, they were based in Mexico City. Vincent and Rosalia Cruz entered followed by their three daughters, their oldest Beatrice and the twins Cassandra and Amalia. The twins wore matching gowns Cassandra in gold, Amalia in silver.

"Aren't we a little old for the whole matchy-matchy thing?" Roz whispered, Avery couldn't help but laugh. The next family to arrive was the Battaligna, just hearing their names made their eyes roll back so hard that they saw glimpses of their repressed memories. Amber and Paulo Battaligna greeted their parents followed by their sons Maximilian and Kit, last was their daughter Florence. The main problem with the Battalignas was their antiquated hunting code. They believed that women had no business in the field, they were to stay back and provide intel...if they were smart enough. They were also the ones constantly reminding Avery that he was not of "royal" blood. Must really chap their ass to be here celebrating both he and Roz. Avery remembers them calling him and his sister G.I. Jose and Battle Barbie. They were really the reason why Avery dreaded this gathering. The Makis family arrived next from Japan. Neither of the siblings knew much about them. They had really only met their kids Micheleen "Mike" and Rei, they seemed okay. Mostly because they were usually quiet at these things. They had brought their grandmother Li, she was the longest surviving hunters, most hunters are lucky to make it past fifty let alone into their eighties. The siblings were getting bored just waiting. Not that they wanted to be downstairs with all of the visitors but still. The two last families arrived at the same time, half an hour late. The Santiagos from Brazil and the Felkents from Montreal. Avery knew almost nothing about either family, the last time he saw them was several years ago. The Felkent's daughter was named Anna she was about as interesting as watching paint dry. The Santiago's had two boys Stefan and Ruben he couldn't really say anything better for them either. He remembered them from when they were all in the training program but they never really spoke to him. Most hunting families send their kids to a private school in New York where they learn the skills needed for hunting along with a regular school curricular. All of the "kids" present at the party, aside from Florence, attended there. In fact the school constantly ranked them throughout the year, they were the top twelve, or as most hunters called them "The Deadly Dozen." Hunting's next generation of leaders. It wasn't because they were necessarily the best in the world or anything, it’s just that with money comes power. Their parents had both, so naturally they did too. Their dad started speaking to the whole room, some speech about both of them.

"I guess it’s almost time for us." Roz said struggling to stand up from how tight fitting her dress was. Her brother lifted her up and helped her untangle a few beads near the hem of her dress. He gave himself a quick check in the mirror to be sure his outfit was still good.

"Alright." He sighed smoothing the fly away hairs.

"Let’s go piss them off." She said. Their dad was still going on about the new era of hunting beginning with the two of them. "Jesus this is so annoying." She whispered taking his hand and heading towards the stairs.

"C'mon Battle Barbie, let’s go party." Avery sang as they waited for their father to introduce them.