Clandestine Clan

Even if the sunset is just a foreshadowing of the dawn, its grandeur inspires the most romantic of visions in Scott’s head. Scott and Sasha took a car to the cemetery. This cemetery is the oldest in Bailey County and has been in use for 100 years. Due to its lengthy history, it is situated quite a distance from residential areas. Sasha stopped the car in front of the cemetery and turned off the engine.

"What the heck are we doing here?" Scott enquired with interest. He had little experience with hunting otherworldly beings. He was only aware of how to apprehend criminals and resolve challenging cases.

“This is our first hunt and I want to teach you how best to hunt starting with werewolves and ghouls.”

“So we are here for werewolves and ghouls, huh?”

“Yes, just follow my lead and always stay behind me.”

"What in the name of hell are ghouls doing in a graveyard?"

"Since they depend on corpses for sustenance, it is where they are most frequently found. They have long claws that can be used to excavate graves.

Scott yelled, "Oh shit!" as his intensity of the task ahead grew stronger like a hard ball.

The vehicle's door is opened by Sasha. She said, "There's no time, come with me," and closed the door.

Standing by the gate of the graveyard, she pulled out a container and removed its stopper. She started drawing a line with its white liquid.

“What’s that?” asked Scott.

“Salt.”

“Salt? What’s it for?”

“Salt is often used against some supernatural creatures. By making a line with this salt, the ghouls can’t cross it. They will be trapped inside and that will give us a great advantage against them.”

Sasha kept tracing a circle around the cemetery. You can repel some otherworldly beings using salt. By simply drawing a line with salt on their window or their room's entry, anyone can use salt to keep ghosts and other supernatural beings out of their house. Ghouls and ghosts are both unable to cross the borders of salt. No hunter goes hunting without carrying salt since it is effective against some demon-like otherworldly beings.

Sasha drew the line and then went back to the gate to greet Scott before joining the queue. She checked for any openings to ensure that they wouldn't act as a barrier. By simply forming a circle with the salt and remaining within it, anyone can use salt to barricade himself against any attack from ghosts, demons, or other supernatural beings from hell. However, if there is a gap in the circle made with salt, these critters can get to the prey they are after.

They returned to the car. “Help me carry this,” she said. She handed a large brown sack to him and instructed him: “Wait near the graveyard but a good few paces away from the silver dust and salt line.”

As advised, he hauled the heavy sack back to the graveyard with Sasha following behind, carrying a large black bag in her hand. Scott felt his heart beating rapidly against his chest and weird restlessness took hold of him. He could hear crawling and purring noises coming from the deep within the earth and there was this horrible stench of burning flesh that choked his nostrils. It was almost as if he could sense evil nearby.

“Ghouls only come out to hunt at night, unless they are desperate like the ghoul that attacked you in Jasmine’s castle.” Sasha's voice distracted him from his thoughts. She put down her bag and helped Scott cut the ropes tied to the sack’s mouth. “When hunting like this, bait is very important. You want to make sure that you draw out the entire ghouls so that you can finish them all at once.”

“I don’t think we can handle so many ghouls at once!” Scott protested, feeling unsure about this idea and how many ghouls were in there. He had already seen how fierce and deadly a single ghoul can be and he was not ready to lure an entire large number of them out at once.

“Just follow my instructions and you will not screw this up for us. The ghouls cannot cross the silver dust and salt line around the graveyard. It burns their flesh! All we need is to put some golden bullets through their head.”

Scott had no option but to trust Sasha on this. After all, she had been doing this before he joined the team.

To lure the ghouls out, blood must be dropped. They have to perceive the smell of blood. Sasha pulled out a dagger strapped around her waist and quickly cut open her palm. She drops the blood inside the line of silver dust and salt as Scott watches. ‘This is disgusting,’ he said to himself.

The ghouls crawled their way from their burrows and resurfaced on the ground snarling like savage dogs. Over ten adult ghouls and five younger ones pounced at the blood all at once, fighting with each other. Sasha smiled menacingly as she unzipped her blown sack. “Are you ready for this? It’s time to kill!”

The black sack contained Sasha’s special weapon. It was a PKM machine gun. The PKM is one of the most common machine guns in the world. The PKM machine gun is a lightweight weapon chambered for a 76.62-millimeter cartridge. Its original rate of fire is approximately 550 rounds per minute.

“How in the hell did you get your hands on a PKM machine gun? Aren’t they illegal for non-marines and the army?” Scott asked.

“I built it myself but you should know these creatures don’t care about the legality or illegality, and neither should you if you don’t want to die again.”

Sasha started firing at the ghouls. She went for their head and after she had killed them all. She continued shooting at them all over again to make sure they were all dead.

“Since all these ghouls are dead, can we go now?”

“We are still not done here. Jasmine expects me to teach you how to hunt, so it’s time for you to get in on the action.”

“What should I do now when you have wasted all the ghouls?”

“Walk around the graveyard and see if there’s any one of them I missed, and then bury a golden bullet to its fucking head.”

During his training in the local police academy in Bailey County, he had learned a great deal about tracking criminals but he had very little idea about tracking ghouls.

After a while of cross-checking around the walls of the graveyard, “It’s all clear!” he said walking back to Sasha.

“Good, it’s time to get the hell out of here,” she said.

They both made their way back to the car.

As they crossed the oak tree, Scott suddenly heard whispering behind them. He turned around in a flash, and Sasha followed his cue.

In the pale light of the moon, they saw a terrifying shadowy figure that leaped from the oak tree. The skies roared with thunder and the fallen leaves rustled in the howling wind. Out of the dreadful darkness of the surrounding thickets, emerged a charming feminine figure in a majestic red gown which was adorned with glittering lapis lazuli stones. Her ruby-red hair reached to her waist.

The mysterious lady chuckled and immediately, enormous black wings sprouted from her back and her countenance suddenly changed to a churning figure of ash and smoke. The face was hard to see except for the pinpoints of the eyes, which shone like the quasars. Beating her wings, the waves of darkness rolled over them in the form of a dark mist.

“What in hell is that?” Scott’s voice was dry with nervousness.

Sasha opened her lips and squeezed out a scared reply, “She is Nyx, the goddess of the night.”