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Elder flinched awake, and responded with a loud hiss. Blood was dribbling out of the shack.

The hiss was as much as the Healer was expecting. He entered and let his eyes grow accustomed to the lighting. "What happened to you? Never mind, I heard from Sterling." A pause followed by, "Did you lose your tail again?"

Sterling found himself on the business end of two crossbows and the sharp end of the sword. "I had to intervene, Hybrid isn't a threat. Not to us, not to humans. He might make a great ally even..." But he could see that they weren't buying it as they advanced on him. "Crap."

Elder snarled and darted out of shed and an extreme speed.

He reappeared in front of Sterling after skidding to a halt and growling at the advancing hunters, claws spread. ''Dare touch him and I'll teach you what occurs when you don't listen to people. I am harmless, but dare you attack me and I fight back. You can either learn it now, or learn it the painful way. And the painful way led to the massacre. Either back off or else.'' He barked, his bladeless tail coiled.

How he had known trouble would start was just a matter of his knowledge, despite bleeding still from his wounds.

"Hey! I didn't even get around to healing you yet." The Healer sighed and rubbed his head. "Guess I better head back to Sterling." Whatever the case, he had the feeling this wasn't going to end well.

Sterling was more than surprised when Hybrid appeared before him. "What are you doing here?" Sterling scolded. "You were supposed to stay hidden until I took care of things on my end."

But the Hunters now adjusted their weapons to aim at Hybrid. "As far as we're concerned," one of the Hunters said, "if you leave then you pose no threat to us or to the people we protect. Stand down yourself."

''I can tell your going to hurt my friend, so back off!'' He hissed, wincing a bit.
''I'm human like you all, but it's humans that turned me into this.''

"What? Hurt me?" Sterling glared at the other Hunters. "You would take revenge over such a small thing like that?"

The Hunters shrugged. "Well, you did drug us while we were being attacked. And you're not so innocent yourself, Sterling. This isn't the first time you've helped out a demon."

Sterling scratched his head in frustration. "I'm not helping out a demon. You heard Hybrid Elder, he's human! He's not a demon and he's not a threat. Just leave him alone."

"Oh, aye, we'll leave him alone--but it's you who's gotta pay for us to do so." Sterling's heart sank. Paying a demon's price for the experimental human? He fumbled for the necklace hanging around his neck and produced the pendant.

"You mean this?" He ripped the chain from his neck and tossed it to the Hunter speaking. "Then take it and leave us alone."

Elder flinched but stood his ground. ''The only demon around where I came from was the Hunters that took me away from family. And Silenia, who guarded me feriously when I was still young. Demons are not all bad, and I know from expirence when I used to be friends with a rare earth-bound Cerberus.''

The Hunters paused and traded looks amongst each other before finally lowering their weapons. Sterling wanted to facepalm, but managed not to.

"Where did you find this Cerberus?" one of the Hunters inquired. "We have not heard of one in several decades."

Elder snirked. ''3rd floor of the arena, but beware of the immortal Silenia.''

The Hunters hesitated, glancing from Sterling to Hybrid and back again. Sterling nodded.

"Silenia means no harm to any human, but she will destroy you if she is attacked. You might consider using your words instead of your weapons next time. A wise Hunter is one who learns to talk as well as fight," he quoted.

The Hunters glared at him and then at Hybrid. "Very well, but do yourselves the benefit of not getting on the other end of our weapons. We'll not be responsible for our actions if you provoke us." They stormed off, leaving Sterling and Hybrid behind.

"Well that could have gone a lot worse," Sterling muttered.

Elder finally collapsed from his wounds, grumbling. ''I don't know how I knew what was happening while in the shed..''

Sterling crouched beside Elder, feeling for a pulse. "Intuition? Instinct? You've probably got way more ability than you realize. How long have you been this way?"

The Healer finally caught up to them, having waited until the whole show had finished before getting involved. "Need a healing hand?" he inquired.

Elder had passed out, his pulse racing. He still had a hospital tag on his arm, though his white fur almost hid it. It read 'HELDER 2/23/1705'.

Sterling looked up at the healer. "Yes please, he just passed out." It was then he saw the trail of blood.

The healer lost no time in getting to work. It took him twice as long as usual to fix the damage, but he got it done. "I'm going to start charging double my normal price if I gotta keep coming to you, Sterling," he grumbled.

Sterling smiled briefly. "Sorry. It was unintentional."

Elder cringed, stirring awake. ''See this?'' And he showed them the hospital bracelet. ''This all I hold onto, the last relic of my human traits.''

Sterling looked at the bracelet, as did the healer. "You kept it all this time?" Sterling asked. He'd have thought that the band would have broken or been cut long ago. "Was that before or after the...uh, what they did to you?"

He grimaced at his lack of ability to be delicate. But hey, he'd grown up slaying monsters. If they wanted him to be delicate, they'd have shipped him off to the temples or something.

''Before they did so. The date was the last time I was a human. The last time I saw my family, even my kids.''

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sterling said softly. He turned his head away for a moment. "I turned my back to all of that when I signed up to become a Hunter. Not all Hunters do that though." He shrugged and turned back. "Will you ever see them again?

Elder sighed, standing up, bladed tail twitching. He tensed up, teeth gritted. ''Never again will I see them. They...'' He choked, then shut his mouth, eyes shut tightly. ''Came to the arena to end me for being tje worst father ever...'' Looking at his bladed hands. ''I went berzerk...'' And he looked at Sterling sadly. ''....''

Sterling could all to easily fill in the blank himself. He nodded and clasped a hand to Hybrid's shoulder--careful of the blades. "I am sorry."