(I have permission for the light godmode of Kendrix for this post. )
 
She wasn’t always lucky enough to have fate do her work for her, but everything seemed to align in her favor tonight.  Where her mission would have led her to far off travels to bring back her prey, here someone had done most of the work for her.  Either way, it was still a mission and one that she would be certain to finish even if another had started it for her.  This was a cutthroat business in more ways than one, and she wasn’t about to let the integrity of her sisters be tarnished because some human had rounded up her target first. 
 
Two strong and distinct pulses resounded in her ears, so she knew that her kill was still alive.  Why hadn’t he killed him yet?  Had he been sent after him like she had been…?  No matter, people were much more agreeable when they were dead.  Her stomach cramped, the hunger growing stronger.  She had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t feed until her job was finished and was regretting it.  It didn’t help that he smelled so delectable.  Did he even realize how much she wanted to eat his face?  Her eyes halved and her shoulders slumped as she pressed closer to her bamboo stalk. 
 
The usual sea of green was a deep blue from the late night hour, and the full moon hardly did much to cut through the thickness.  Even if she hadn’t been cloaked in invisibility she would have been near impossible to see from her dark clothing.  If it weren’t for her bright hair then stealth would have been even easier without the aid of magick.  Were she to have to go into town for her hunt then she could have just changed her appearance at will, but here?  In the middle of the Menomori forest with no witnesses?  Hardly.
 
She waited patiently, following silently from the tops of the bamboo stalks, letting her weight barely cause them to bend before flitting to the next until finally he paused.  Her nails lightly curled against the top of her stalk, lightly slicing the green until she saw her moment.  Her fingers flexed out quickly, sending out three ethereal blades: one to go through her target’s temple, a second through his neck, and the third straight in the middle of his heart.  It left three thin streams of blood to spatter against the surrounding bamboo and she quickly teleported from her perch. 
 
As her feet touched down on the ground she reached out, arms wrapping around the man before he could shuffle too far and pulled him onto her shoulder, realizing how much the golden haired boy towered over her.  She straightened herself in an attempt to seem grander, her emerald eyes glowing brighter, “Thank you!”

 

To say it had been a long night would be an understatement. He wasn't one to take bounties too very often, but the hunger pangs from his coin pouch were hard to argue. The man, whose name he had already forgotten, had been drinking rather heavily through the night- a fact that helped the capture efforts a great deal. Kendrix allowed a smile to touch his lips for a moment as he recalled the swiftness with which he had bagged his prey. The moment had been filled with the promise of an agility that was so much greater than the one that manifested now; a reward to be won through additional training. 

A large grunt pulled him from his musings as his prisoner began to wiggle against the restraints. The golden haired hunter wasn't too terribly worried about a fight from the drunk, but the noises could be enough to tip off anyone who may be hiding within the bamboo leaves; however unlikely that may be.

"Hey, be quiet up there." he said shaking the man's frame a little. The last thing he needed was to have a conversation with his bounty. Conversation was the gateway to sympathy, after all. The fact of the matter was that any other hunter would have already silenced him, but Kendrix was not much of a fan of unnecessary murder. 

Another shuffle, followed by a deep groan. Only this time, it was different. It was sharp; fast. Something must have happened. Maybe his bounty was about to be ill? He had been drinking a great deal. 

"Please don't vomit on me," he said; shifting the weight in preparation of shrugging the man off of his shoulder. 
All at once the weight of his bounty was gone. Had he fallen? He spun around on his heels expecting to see a crumpled drunk on the ground, instead there stood a girl; the man now adorning her shoulder.

Thank you? It took him only a second to realize that she was stealing his bounty. But how? She was so small… She's not what she seems.

"Excuse me. That's mine," he said arching his back a little; a silent threat that had been effective in the past. "Please give it back."

She looked up at him, only arching an eyebrow as they spoke about this now dead person as if he were nothing more than a parcel to be exchanged.  Her arm wrapped more around him, keeping him tight against her shoulder as if this man would try and snatch him back, “He was mine first, you hadn’t even killed him yet.”   Standing around and talking wouldn’t be wise, she had to get him back, dip his blood before it ran too cold, “I’m sure you’ll be fine next time.”
 
Her eyes drifted down to his neck for a flicker, trying not to be taken in by the wet pulse before flicking them back up to his.  That was another thing: the longer she was here, the longer she would have to wait before eating.  And while she could have attacked this man now and killed two birds with one stone so to speak, she knew she’d have to kill him afterwards.  That would just leave more work and really it would be too tiring to finish up in one night when she had more enjoyable things on her agenda before it was all back to work in the morning.
 
“Now let’s not waste our time for nothing, you go your way and I’ll go mine.  Thank you for doing the leg work for me though.”   With that she turned her back on him, walking in the opposite direction and weaving through the nearest grove of bamboo.  Yes, time to get you back.  She thought to the poor dead man on her shoulder. 
 

His blood was still running, but luckily only enough to slowly bleed into his clothing as her punctures had been so thin and precise.  Still, the scent was getting to her…such a waste.  Maybe he’d make a nice cold appetizer before her entrée.  She wasn’t feeling up to Ataiyan tonight though, if there was enough time she might try and get further north for something a little more foreign.

As she turned away from him he could not help but to be filled with anger. Whether this was because the woman was perfectly fine stealing a bounty that was rightfully his, or because she felt the need to kill him to complete the charge, he was not sure. He only knew that he was angry enough to see red; a state of mind that had not aided him in making good decisions in the past. 

He closed his eyes for only a second before starting after her; trying to find a calm within himself. He wasn't sure what he was going to do once he cornered her, but he had to try.

"Excuse me. I will say it again. That is mine. Just because you killed it doesn't mean that you hold any right to it. I captured him, and I plan to turn him in for the bounty." He couldn't see her. But he knew she could hear him. She wasn't far away… unless his fears were founded. He had been traveling the world for a while since his father died, and had seen quite a lot of people… and he knew that not all of them were people. 

Out of instinct more than anything, he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Even if she wasn't some other race or some sort of monster, she had been able to kill the drunkard from far away. Who knew what she was capable of? Who knew what she could do to him?

He ducked into the brush of the forest in the direction in which she went. A part of him wanted her to be reasonable. He wanted to tell her why he even agreed to this bounty. But the other part of him wanted to fight; that famous hunter rage bubbling up once more. 

"Miss?" he said into the night. "Please do the right thing."

Her eyebrows furrowed.  The right thing?  As far as she knew she was doing the right thing.  It was what was expected of her, what she needed for her clan, how could this be anything but right?  There was a stir in her head and her eyes closed for a moment, slowly shaking her head before Raïe could make herself known.  That was another reason she had to get back: she always felt safer within the house’s walls where Raïe was easily subdued.  She didn’t have time to waste with this ‘honorable’ do gooder.  Who had hired him anyways…?  The one that had reached out to her clan wanted this man dead, simply put, and proof of that. 
 
She sighed, head tipping back and groaning lightly as he pleaded with her, though it didn’t sound like a plea other than word choice.  Her head turned, looking over her shoulder back in the direction of him before turning the rest of herself with it.  Despite the darkness her eyes cut through, finding him easily and still being drawn to that light throb at his neck.  She swallowed down, willing her fangs not to elongate as she imagined the pop of skin her teeth would cause at such tautness.
 
Maybe he just needed to understand.  Despite that, her grip remained on her prey as she weaved through, going back to him but stopping a good five feet away…she wasn’t stupid.  Her eyes shifted, her features growing slightly more serious, “I am doing the right thing.  It just doesn’t happen to work out in favor for you.”   She shifted him slightly, the blood was starting to pool down at his limbs and weigh him down awkwardly, “My clan was hailed.  When we are given a job we finish it.  Whatever that might mean.  Returning emptyhanded is not an option.  My client failed to reach out in time because you obviously got to him before we had a chance, but we don’t fault the client when it’s a job we should be more than capable of.”
 

Her eyes softened, but she only smiled, close to a smirk, “Now then, I should be on my way.  Unless you want to offer your neck for the night I suggest we part ways.  As delicious as you smell I don’t have time to remain…distracted.  What were they offering you as payment…?”   The coin to be earned wasn’t so much what she cared about: it was the honor of bringing back her job.  She could easily spare anything earned to give to him as repayment and understanding.

He stared after her as she spoke; his hand still resting solidly on the hilt of his sword. When she turned to face him, he was able to clearly see the glint of fangs in the darkness of the night. Vampire. That made sense. Surely someone who was still of the living would not so willingly slay a man that they could have easily kept bound. Right?

For a moment, despite the rush of adrenaline that shot through his bloodstream at the sight of her fangs, he allowed himself to feel patronized by the woman's words. Was she offering him money to relinquish his catch? Yes, he had set out on trail of the man in pursuit of the bounty, but now it was the principle more than anything. It was his bounty.

Once again anger filled him. Was she something of the night? Yes. Did that strike fear into his heart? Not really. He, while not being particularly skilled with the sword, had dealt with creatures of darkness in his previous travels without much issue; relying heavily on his speed and strength to catch the creatures off guard. Would that work with this woman? She did not necessarily seem as though she wanted to fight him. More that she just wanted him to go away; a fact that certainly left a slew of emotions in it's wake.

He was not weak. He was not something to be dismissed. Not anymore.

"I was offered one thousand silver for this man," he said; lying through his teeth. He had been offered a bounty, but it was nowhere near that high of an amount. "I chose to take him alive so he may be judged for his crimes by those who knew their length." He spoke frankly; attempting to hide his increasing heartbeat. "But regardless, I captured him. It does not seem very honorable to steal the catch of another hunter."