a wild pack of misfits

But she didn’t. She was firmly rooted in reality, which made her curse under her breath.

The moment they were secluded, away from prying public eyes, or gossips, she ripped into him. It was clear she was angry from her stance, her tone, and the way her fists were balled up, arms firmly folded over her chest.

“First of all, don’t call me West, okay? It’s not– I don’t go by that anymore.” Her eyes avoided his, unsure how to even feel using such an old, foreign name on her tongue. It didn’t even feel like Griffon’s anymore. It felt like it belonged to a whole different person. 

“Secondly, what the hell do you mean ‘I know you’re Griffon’? Did hell scramble your brain and make you forget who I am?” She half laughed at the statement, unable to contain her own amusement at the ridiculousness of it all. Lord knows how much this girl was bitter. Bitter about how things ended, bitter about how he was the beginning of a serious of let downs and left behind that never seemed to stop throwing punches. She wanted to move on from things, stop dwelling so much on the past and the anger that had seeped so deeply into her bones, she didn’t know how to get rid of it other than carving it out of herself.

“Or were you just surprised to see I’m not that cute little girl anymore and you’re surprised I’m the same person?”

Wow, she sure has a lot to say. He silently noted to himself just as she went into a small rant with what he felt was hostility dripping off of each word. “You don’t know?” Nick questioned just before his hands dropped into his pockets, shoes shifting over the pebbles on the ground which caused scratch-like noises until he stopped moving. “Head issues seem to be a thing considering when I took a bullet and hit my head the first time, but the second time around wasn’t so great. Luck doesn’t seem to be a thing right now.” The hunter pulled out his vape, taking a long drag of good ‘ole THC and exhaled a cloud of relief. This is going to be a little harder than I thought, but as noted, this wasn’t expected to be easy. “A few things, my parents are gone.. as in non-existent. My sisters are gone, they were both killed, and Chris- I don’t even want to get into that. I don’t remember a lot but I know that there’s a lot of unresolved shit here.” Nick paused for a moment, quickly disassociating and went somewhere else for a moment. In what felt like a blink of an eye there was a memory, meeting her when she was much younger and giving her a ride, and suddenly it was like someone stopped the movie which put him back in the present. “If it means anything, Tyler had strict instructions to get it all back, she said I owed you. I don’t know if you’re willing to help but if not, I can’t say that I didn’t try with a fried memory, right?”

So either he was real, or he was some demon posing as him, or a mix of both. Still, this was public, out in the open. A place where the world of paranormals was a secret, and even if South Dakota was bit heavy with their allowing of brandishing a weapon, a display like that would have the cops busting down the door, or at least another bar patron pulling their own six shooter to match. 

The huntress was quick to move, to shield what he had laid out for her on the tabletop, feigning a smile at her coworkers, waving them off. They already had some weird suspicions about what exactly she got up to, she didn’t need to add anymore to their elaborate conspiracies. 

“Would you fucking put that away, Christ,” She swore. “I don’t do business in public, especially not the kind that involves the amount of–” The brunette leaned in, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Illegal shit I do on a daily basis.”

If she wasn’t so furious, so desperately trying to cover up the leak from one of her two lives into the other, she would’ve been awestruck. Perhaps even happy to see him. But instead a scowl on her face remained, a tightness in her jaw appearing. The days of Griffon Singer being the sweet little girl he once knew were long since over.

“If you wanna talk, then let’s talk. But we are not doing it here, do you understand me?”

There was a small snicker he couldn’t contain, it was out of his control and almost like an instinct to her reaction. After waiting a moment a small nod was tossed her way before a grin appeared while he spoke. “Aye, aye captain West.” Retrieving his gun right after he spoke it was then he turned around to head out the door. Nick walked towards the back where crickets could now be heard along with muffled bar music and distant drunk conversations. Not what I was expecting but a promise is a promise. His eyes momentarily shifted towards the sky, as though he were silent letting Tyler know he was doing it for her. When approaching footsteps could be heard the blonde male watched her carefully. “Look, I don’t know a whole ‘lot but I do know you’re Griffon,” he started as he spaced distance between the two in case of unexpected combat. “I get that I need to explain some things but if you have other plans...then I guess it saves me a hotel night, yet I kinda wasted gas getting here already.” Nick’s blue orbs were strikingly alert, a piercing icy stare in place due to how unsure he was of this woman. To her it was her past coming back to bother her, to Nick it was about figuring out why learning everything about her was so important. “You know this conversation doesn’t exactly have to happen if you don’t want it to.” God, right now I could really use a goddamn blunt.

Twenty four goddamn years old, and that little spitfire of a teenager she had once been had been snuffed out like a candle before bed. Well, not entirely. That fire, that rebellious, loud mouthed girl was still underneath. Simmering. Seething. Just more contained, controlled, in a militant style that would’ve put her brother’s soldier-esque attitude to shame. After all, she was Queen of the Hunters now, and she better act like it.

Yet on occasion, she lived a little. More so in the most recent years. Time between Bobby’s death and now had made her appreciate what the world had to offer, to not shy away from people. Which is why she was playing a pool, running fucking circles around one of the waitresses she worked with. She always won, no matter how good her competitor was. 

As a celebration, she went to get another beer. Knocking on the bar top, the bartender rolled his eyes, asking if this one was also on her coworker’s tab. She just smiled, and said, “Absolutely.” 

Drink in hand, she found a nice little table, a perching point to people watch. Always scanning, always on high alert. Blame her anxiety, blame her job, it didn’t matter anyway. 

Long dark hair that used to be worn freely down was now always pulled back into a messy ponytail. New scars littered her skin, one through her eyebrow, a couple new ones on her chest. Where once wild, untamed trouble graced her features and burned in her eyes had been replaced with cold calculation. Stone. A pretty marble statue who still had her knife on her at all times. 

Old habits tended to die hard. 

Her head snapped to the call of a name so foreign, so old, it almost could be considered a corpse. She hadn’t heard the moniker she’d taken up as a teen in years. The voice didn’t sound familiar, but the face did. 

She couldn’t help but laugh, taking a long swig from her drink, setting it down carefully on the tabletop, shaking her head the whole time.

“And here I thought I was done with having these fucking hallucinations,” The huntress muttered under her breath, trying to ignore what she assumed to be only a figment of her imagination.