“So, tell me why we’re at an abandoned warehouse again.”

Jericho leaned against the most stable wall he could find as he watched Marcus etch a double layered circle in middle of the room with a piece of chalk. As he worked Jericho took his time to inspect his surroundings. He was on the outskirts of town, inside of an old warehouse, in middle of a golden field of tall grass. Unfinished rails were littered outside, rusting over the year of being ignored. But despite the outwardly appearance of being run down and ruined, inside was a different story. It was surprisingly clean and well kept. Most of the equipment was removed, which left the large warehouse eerily empty. Only the catwalks really remained from it’s previous life.

“We’re getting someone’s attention.” He finished the circle, adding unrecognizable runes in between the circles, when the last one was drawn, the circle started to pulsate a dark violet color. Jericho wished he could record what was happening but he learned the hard way that magic tends to mess with technology. That was the main reason why he tended to capture recordings of monsters and cryptids. Besides, he was pretty sure his phone was still in that alleyway.

“You still haven’t explained who. And what your plan is.”

Marcus went over to Jericho and took a seat beside him and etched more runes into the ground. “We are contacting an organization called Keepers. They handle magical situations and keep the human populous from learning too much about the magical world.”

Jericho let that sink in as he stared at Marcus, “So… they practically work against what I’m trying to do… Revealing to the world what’s actually out there.” Not only did people not actually believe in him but now he realized that there’s a magical men in black who are to make sure they don’t. “That’s… unsettling, have they been working against me this entire time?”

“No, though I was fully prepared for them to do so. It’s rare for someone to have so many encounters with the supernatural like you and still be alive. They either die or the Keepers get to them, which isn’t any better.”

A cold wave washed through Jericho’s body, “So, what is the circle for?”

Finishing the runes with the last of his chalk Marcus stood beside Jericho, “The Keepers have a giant network of magical landlines that reach throughout the world, this circle just plucks a few.”

Jericho didn’t like this. He felt like a fly trapped in a spiderweb. He had the urge to bolt, he didn’t want to learn what they did to those who know the truth.

“You have the cloak on right?”

“Uhh, yea..” He almost forgot that Marcus had given him new gear, he remembered Marcus saying that he’ll need better equipment than a homemade flamethrower to make it out of this situation in one piece. The cloak he was given was scarlet red and had emerald ovals on both sides of the hood, which made the cloak look as if it had eyes. It looked cool, but incomplete somehow. The pendent that is usually placed where both sides meet on his chest was gone. Replaced by a simple but sturdy strap.

“As I said before, the cloak would keep you from dying, but don’t do anything stupid.” Marcus emphasized the last part due to the other’s reckless behavior and Jericho couldn’t blame him.

“As for the daggers… don’t use them unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Marcus had both sheathed behind him, though he could barely call them daggers. They were naked blades that resembled kitchen knives, but it was curved at the bottom to make a hook. The most spectacular part of them was that it was it damascened. He couldn’t help but stare as he first saw them. The liquid like texture of the metal made them beautiful to a point where he hoped he wouldn’t have to dirty them by stabbing something.

The morning glow soon turned to afternoon light, and the time relaxed Jericho’s nerves. Marcus explained that the runes at their feet was a ward of sorts. It kept those who had ill intent away. Basic but effective. Kept away muggers, rowdy teenagers, wendigos, etcetera and etcetera. He couldn’t help but wonder where Marcus learned this stuff from.

He knew he wasn’t human but that didn’t mean he knew what he was, not only that but he had a rather large arsenal of magical equipment, he was pretty sure he owned an entire storage warehouse full of that kind of stuff. He remembered asking him where he got this stuff from but Marcus just said that, ‘They are just a couple of trinkets he collected over the years.’ Which made him believe Marcus was older than he looked.

He flinched as he felt a gentle tap on his side. It was Marcus, pointing towards the pulsating circle, in middle of the room. It started to flash faster with each pulse. Something was happening, and It didn’t take a genius to know that. Soon, the circle stopped, all life that was in it gone, and after a blinding white flash. A door stood where the circle once was.

The door was wooden, solid and looked as if it belonged in a german castle, while the doorknob was completely silver. It looked almost ordinary if it wasn’t standing in middle of an abandoned warehouse. If what was on the other side what Jericho expected, then things might get messy.

~~~~~~

Instinctively, Jericho stood in front of Marcus blades drawn and ready for anything to jump out and attack them.

“Dude, I’m not a damsel in distress. I can take care of myself.”

Looking down at him, Jericho knew he was probably right, but he refused to let anything happen to him. He was terrified at what was behind that door, but he couldn’t let his fears overcome him now. Especially if Marcus was involved.

Rolling his eyes, Marcus walked past Jericho and put his hand on the silver knob of the door. “I know you must be scared, but we need their-“

Marcus was cut off as the door burst open, smacking him aside by the force of it. And out of the door rushed a blur heading towards Jericho.

He barely had time to react. Lifting the daggers up he blocked the oncoming attack, he heard the sound of blades crashing against each, thinking quickly, he rolled backwards, and using the hooked ends, he locked his blades with the figure’s as he took the other with him and once the other was above him, he kicked the figure away.

Once recovering he saw his opponent. There standing in front of him was a guy, no older than himself. He looked almost human, red hair, blue eyes, light brown complexion, but there was one extraordinary feature. His ears were those of a fox.

“Kitsune.” Jericho guessed.

Almost surprised by the encounter. The fox person glared at Jericho, as he raised his cutlasses. Jericho didn’t like the match up of weapons, the swords had more reach than his own blades. Seeing the man about to swipe at him, he ducked down and slashed the kitsune. Much to his surprise the blades went through and the image of the man faded, before he could question what was going on he felt a blunt object ram into his solar plexus. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach and ribs. Feeling the warm touch of his blood, he knew his stitches were now open. The man now stood above him, his swords were set to deliver the killing blow. Wincing, he readied for the blade. A second passed and nothing happened. Then another. Opening his eyes he looked up and was dumbfounded to see the kitsunes arms tied together by the cloak. He struggled to move them but the cloak didn’t budge, instead it lifted him off the ground and tossed him across the room. Completely surprised and in pain he slowly rose off his knees, clutching his now open wound. He readied himself for another pounce when he heard a booming voice pierce through the room, “Zoran Chavez!”

Both Jericho and the kitsune flinched and watched as two more figures exited out of the doorway. They wore red leather armor, over their cotton shirts and jeans. One was as young as the other, she had olive colored skin and wore a headband to keep her black curly hair down. Her warm almond eyes looked between us and the woman standing beside her.

The oldest one looked like the young girls older sister. But her hair was straightened out and fell to her shoulders. She glared at us then glanced at Marcus, holding his bloodied nose.

Then she did something I didn’t expect. She sighed and relaxed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, she stated, “Stand down Zoran, it isn’t an ambush. It really was a distress signal.”

“No shit Diana.” Marcus groaned.

Diana avoided looking towards Marcus, “I’m sorry… it’s, been a while.”

Zoran looked between Marcus and Diana, with an idiotic expression. “You know that nobody?”

“Watch who you call a nobody ya damn furry.” Jericho snapped. It bothered him that Marcus knew a Keeper. Has Marcus been telling them about him? Was he working against him?

Zoran growled again, he lunged once again only to hit an invisible wall.

“That’s enough Zoran!” Diana barked. She went over to Marcus and helped him off the floor, “I’m sorry, but we’ve been getting ambushes disguised as distress calls as of late. Lost two teams.”

“My condolences.” Marcus groaned.

“Yeah, bleeding out here, but no worries, take you time.” Jericho let out.

Marcus dropped his hand and rushed to Jericho with Diana and her sister. Zoran stood a distance away, clearly annoyed. Jericho instinctively inched back once Marcus approached.

Marcus stood still as he noticed Jericho inch away. Jericho wasn’t sure if he was surprised or hurt with the reaction, but he asked, “Your stitches?”

“Yea..”

“What happened?” Diana demanded. Jericho couldn’t help but flinch. She was very intimidating.

“Wendigo marked him.” Marcus replied immediately. Looking around he cursed, “I left my supplies outside. I’ll be right back.”

After he left, Diana’s sister spoke up, “That… doesn’t make sense. A wendigo in a city? You sure it wasn’t something else that attacked you?”

“Angela is right, wendigos may be territorial but they stay in the areas where they are turned, open forests, mountain ranges, canyons. Not in overpopulated cities.” Zoran spoke up.

Jericho gritted his teeth, “I know what attacked me. Yellow sunken eyes, starved frame, unhinged jaw, turned into a pile of ash after I killed it.”

“What?”

“You killed it!?”

“Dumbass.”

Jericho made a mental note to kick the foxes ass once he was better. “Yes, I know, Marcus already explained how vindictive they are.”

Angela and Diana exchanged worries glances with Zoran, who didn’t really care.

“If I may ask, aren’t you guys supposed to keep this from happening.”

“Yeah, along with making sure nosey humans mind their own business Jericho Jameson.” Zoran retorted.

“Of course the jackass had to bring it up.”

Angela elbowed Zoran while he earned a glare from Diana, “It’s true. We have been keeping tabs on you, but not through Marcus. He’s just a friend of mine. I didn’t even know he moved to the city.” She looked towards the exit where Marcus left and stated, “I’m going to check on him. Make sure he has everything.”

Jericho isn’t dumb, she could be lying, and Marcus could be feeding Keepers information on him. But it was Marcus, he’s done too much for him to be an enemy. He finally decided to just talk to Marcus about it and stop fussing over it.

He was fine waiting in silence for them, it left him in to his thoughts, but like everything else, Zoran had to ruin it. “Aren’t you a little young to be looking for monsters. Why are you doing this?”

“I’m nineteen. I can do what I want.” Jericho replied.

“We know, but why is what I asked. You spent four years of your life looking for what others call a myth.”

“They still wouldn’t be calling it a myth if it wasn’t for you.”

“That’s right. Now you know you have an entire organization of people working against you. Making sure no one believes you. What will you do now?”

“That’s enough.” Angela snapped.

We both looked at Angela, if Jericho was going to be honest, he had completely forgotten that she was there.

“What is with you? Interrogate him another time. Now he needs our help.” Her face was red and flushed, it seems as if Angela was a bit of a wallflower, it must have taken a lot just to stand up for him like that.

Zoran rolled his eyes and walked off towards the side. “Fine.”

Jericho looked up towards Angela and smiled. She nodded and started to apologize when Diana and Marcus came back to patch him up.

“Let’s head to my place.” Marcus stated as he stitches up Jericho, “I have enough room and we need a plan to take care of this. Anybody disagree?” His bloody nose was gone but was a bit swollen

It was a silent agreement, Jericho was surprised Zoran didn’t have anything to say on the matter.

“Then it’s settled.”