Alec dressed fast in the small room and went to find the boss.
"Sir, I'm ready."
"Good. We've got a lot of demons to butcher tonight. Overtime." The boss looked at him. "Can you handle it?"
"Yes, sir."
A faint smile pulled at the corner of Henry's mouth. Then he turned and walked toward the Abyss.
He stopped and turned to face his men.
"I see new faces today." His gaze swept the line before settling. "I'm Henry Badock, leader of the D-Blood Guild."
He turned toward the field of dead demons. He pulled on his gloves, worked each finger in, then picked up his blade.
"All right, men. Let's get as much as we can today. Don't let another guild outdo us."
A beat of silence, then the men answered as one. "Yes, sir!" They broke formation and got to work, blades already rising and falling against the carcasses.
Alec moved through the remnants of the battle, scanning the ground for bodies. "Come on," he muttered. "I need to do as many as possible today."
While they worked, another guild arrived at the field's edge. Alec didn't stop cutting. He tracked them in his periphery and pressed harder into the work, blade moving faster as they drew closer.
Two men stood at the front. One leaned toward the other, voice dropped low.
"Sir, isn't that the boy from the D-Blood Guild?"
A pause. The leader's eyes moved across the field and found him.
"I can see that." His gaze held a moment, flat and assessing. "And you talking is wasting my money." He shoved the man forward. The rest followed without a word.
Alec was mid-cut when a hand slapped the back of his head.
"Hey." The voice came from above him, lazy and amused. "If it isn't the precious son of the Ashworth family."
He turned. Three men stood over him, close enough that he had to look up. The field noise fell away. There was only the space between them, and his own heartbeat, too loud.
"Come on, speak up." They laughed, closing in slow.
Alec dropped his head. His fist tightened around the blade until his knuckles ached.
'They look delicious.'
His stomach turned.
'Just one bite. That's all.'
'Shut up.'
'You want to. I know you want to tear out their hearts, Alec. Claw through the ribs and feel it stop beating. You'd love it. You know you'd love it.'
His free hand hit the ground. He dug his fingers into the dirt, nails splitting against rock.
'Do it. Do it. Do it. Just let me eat!'
"Hey!"
Henry dropped. The impact cracked through the ground. Dust rose in a wide ring around his boots and he walked out of it, unhurried, putting himself between Alec and the three men.
"What the hell are you Moon Guild bastards doing to my worker?"
Alec looked up. All he could see was the wide line of Henry's back. His breathing steadied. His fingers uncurled from the dirt, one by one.
"Huh. You wanna go, gramps?" The Moon Guild man stepped closer, chin lifted.
Before it could go further, the Moon Guild leader's voice cracked across the field. "Hey. What the hell are you doing?" He took in the scene with a hard look, clicked his tongue. "Get back to work."
The men fell back without another word.
Henry didn't move until the field sounds returned to normal. Then he turned, reached down, and pulled Alec to his feet.
"You need to fight back." His voice was low, direct. "Otherwise they'll keep coming."
"Sorry, sir." Alec kept his eyes down. "I didn't want to cause trouble between two guilds."
Henry was quiet for a moment. Then he let go of his arm.
"Get back to work."
Alec went back to cutting.
The light shifted slowly, the sky bleeding from pale gold to dark by the time Henry's voice lifted across the field.
"Good work, everyone. Form a line."
The men shuffled into formation. Henry moved down it, steady and unhurried, counting under his breath.
"Five Ruks per demon."
The money was transferred through their Cripto cards. When Alec reached the front, Henry held the POS machine out without a word. Alec pressed his Cripto card against it. Thirty Ruks. He turned to go.
"Hey."
Henry caught his arm. He pressed an extra ten Ruks without looking up, and when he spoke his voice had dropped to something close to a murmur.
"Take care of yourself. And your sister."
A small smile crossed Alec's face. "Thank you, sir."
He left the Abyss as the last of the light gave out.
On the way home he stopped at a store, the kind that smelled like dust and cold refrigerant. He moved through the aisles quietly, picking up a few things, then set a chocolate bar on the counter.
"That'll be two Ruks."
He paid, put the rest of his items into a plastic bag and walked out into the dark.
"Spent too much today." His voice was barely above a breath. "Six Ruks left. Rent is six hundred this month."
His pace slowed. He did the math again.
"I have four hundred saved." He stopped walking. Stood there in the dark for a moment. Then his hand curled into a fist at his side.
"I just have to work harder." He started walking again, heading home.
The street was quiet by the time he reached his block.
He heard her before he opened the door.
Alec stepped inside and stopped. His sister was in the living room, laughing, moving in small unsteady circles like she couldn't hold still. He stood in the doorway with his bag still on his shoulder.
"Did something happen?"
She spun around. The moment she saw him she crossed the room and threw her arms around him, still laughing, her whole body shaking with it. He caught her on instinct, arms coming up slow.
"All right." He pulled back enough to see her face. "I can see you're happy. What happened?"
She stepped back. A small cough moved through her. Then she looked at him, eyes bright.
"I did it, Alec." Her voice broke open on the words. "I finally manifested."
For a moment he just stared at her. Then something cracked loose in his chest and he laughed, and she laughed, and for a moment the aching in his hands didn't exist.
Then the joy settled. And underneath it, quiet and cold as standing water, something else rose in its place.
"I can be a demon hunter now."
"What?"