Aster

      I paled. “Is this some kind of a sick joke for you?” I had to fight to keep the quiver out of my voice. “By stalking me, pulling up gunk from my past that I hardly survived, and then shoving it all in my face with some conspiracy theory!” Why me…

      “No, it’s not. You see-” he starts, but I interrupt him.

      “I see what? Your craziness?” I start to stand up but he grabs my arm.

      “I know that you were in that cemetery for a gang initiation, and that you were initiating your friend.”

      “How do you know that!?” it didn’t make any sense “They didn’t release that to the public!”

      “Of course they didn’t.” Eli answers smoothly “We are not the public.” He draws out a badge. “I work for USHUA, the Universal Society of Hunting Undead and Associates. We aren’t a part of any government, but we have an agreement with most of them concluding our rights to their information.” He gives me that smile again, his cheeriness back.

      “I don’t understand.” He nods sympathetically.

      “Of course not, I’m here to let you know that your options are open, and that USHUA would love to have you join their ranks.” Eli pulls a business card from out of thin air. “I will contact you in a week to hear your final response, but if you make your decision sooner than that, just call this number.” I yanked the card out of his grasp and took a closer look at it. It was a smooth white card with USHUA in bold, dark blue letters across the middle. The back had a phone number in the same place, same style.

      I looked back up at him. “Not that I’m taking this seriously, but what if I don’t want anything to do with this? What if I want to forget that this ever happened?” He leaned back in his seat, the hard part apparently over.

      “Then just don’t call. It’s that easy.” He shrugged, “And if when I show up-seven days from now- you’re certain that you don’t want anything to do with us, then just tell me so. That will be the last you ever hear from us, and we will never bother you again.”

      “Really… never again?”

      “Yes, you won’t ever hear from us again.” I mulled on that. This all sounded way too good to be true.

      “What does your society even do?” Damn it, the question had just slipped out.

      Eli chuckled “We hunt undead and their associates, exactly what it sounds like.”

      I decided to press on “But what exactly does that entail?” He smiled knowingly.

      “Typically we hunt, and usually kill undead. Their associates are typically cults or large unruly covens, but those are very rare. Most often we just find the occasional witch that dabbles a bit too far into the occult, and finds unforeseen consequences.” He cocked his head, “We also deal with were-creatures, but unless they live outside the law, or try to expose their species to the world, we really just help them fit in with the world around them. We very commonly hire them”

      “Werewolves!?” I exclaim, shocked.

      “Yes, but there are many other species other than just them.” He corrected me.

      “Wait, you said undead, so there are more than just…” I could hardly say it “vampires?”

      “Yeah, lots more.” He pauses a moment in thought. “Typically vampires are our biggest threat, but we deal with ghost hauntings, lichs, and even zombies.” He grins “But trust me, zombies are nothing like the movies. They’re just immortality spells or resurrection spells gone horribly wrong. There are a few more, those are just the main ones.” I frowned, I recognized all except one. I frowned again. Was I really believing this bullshit? Well… no harm in learning more.

      “What is a lich?”

      “They are kinda like vampires, except they are created via spell, and they drain the life spirit of creatures to maintain their own.” Eli grimaced “From what my colleagues have told me, it is not fun taking one of those out.”

     “Spells, so magic exists?” No, it couldn’t…

     “Depends how you look at it.” He opens his mouth, and then closes it, seemingly at loss for what to say. “Everything living has energy keeping it alive, yes?” I nod. “There are some who can manipulate that energy for a specific purpose, but usually, the craft, as they call it, can only be taught. I haven’t ever heard of any that have been able to do it right off the bat.”

     “What about the first guy?” I asked. He smiled.

      “Well, except the first guy that figured it all out. But I’m talking about people that can use it without even trying, the people that use it by accident, as naturally as breathing.”

      “Oh, okay.” Then something else struck me. “Will I be paid, if, of course, I join?” Eli gave me an incredulous look.

      “Well duh! What do you think we run on? Volunteers?” he shook his head scornfully. “Nah, you’ll get a paycheck, just like everyone else that works there.” I nodded and felt my cheeks flush a bit.

      “If I joined, what would be the first thing I would do?”

      Eli snorted “We need to train you.”

      “Train…?” I repeated carefully.

      “Yeah. Martial arts, gymnastics, crossbow, knife work, hand to hand, stuff like that.” This was getting way too real.

      “I’m going to be fighting and killing things much stronger and faster than me.” Oh, oh no. It sank in. I would be involving myself in the very world that killed Jamie. A world that I didn’t even know why I was buying into.

       “You won’t be fighting them alone, but essentially, yes.” I wasn’t listening at that point.

       “Hey, you know what? I think I’m good, I don’t think I’ll be calling you. I don’t even think you should come around next week.” I stood up, and this time he didn’t try to stop me. Instead, he stood up with me.

      “I will anyway, it’s my job.” I tried to give him back the business card, but he pushed my hand away. “Keep it, just in case.” He then turned, and walked away. I lost him in the crowd, and then I looked back at the card. I walked over to one of the bins along the side of the street and was about to throw it in, but I stopped myself.

      “Fuck it.” I grumbled to myself. And while sipping my -now cold- coffee, I wandered all the way to my apartment, the business card safely in my pocket.