Noticed

"I'm telling you I saw it. It was huge and flew into the cloud bank disappearing." Kipper said using binoculars to stare up the mountain. It was up near nine thousand feet or so is my guess.

"Good luck getting up there," Lee said sitting back. Kendra was staring intently up where Kipper said that he had seen the thing. She'd thought that she'd seen something the second time but was unsure. However, for the rest of their shift, they saw nothing.

In the morning two others came to take over for them. They told them what they had seen. Or rather what Kipper had seen. These two informed them that in town last night a fire had raged and something obliterated a building and a stand of large trees. There was a partial footprint in the ground that no one was able to identify as of yet. But the size of it spoke of something massive.

They walked back to the housing area and again shared what they saw and then were told in more detail what had happened. It was exciting at first and then as the days passed, not so much, as very little happened. They also had gone to find this nest of vampires that was the worst, but it seemed that none were left. The deaths in the city that were from them had dropped steeply.

Another odd thing that they noticed was that the werewolves that had been in the area and laying low seemed to have vanished as well. Or at least moved somewhere else. They didn't know where to look for them and there was another group of vampires that they couldn't find that were killing people still.

However they were doing it oddly, they weren't draining their victims. They were however seeming to weed the city of the humans that were bad in a word. Like they were cleaning it up and this was odd to them, they weren't sure what this meant. Over the next few days, they watched the mountain and one team radioed back to say that they had indeed seen something flying up there but it was too far away to even see properly.

So now they were watching intently and in a few other cities around the area, they were recording a sudden increase in deaths in the criminal sector and a movement by the supernaturals instead. So they weren't exactly sure what they should do about it, they were killing a record number of humans. But it was helping at the same time. They had gotten word that a couple of other teams that worked for the same agency had caught a centaur and another had found and killed two harpies.

Those were dangerous beings, to say the least, but secretive. They tended to hide in wild areas and only came out when they were looking for some entertainment. Kendra was on detail to find where those of the supernatural community were staying. That or draw them to her, which was code for turning on the charm and seeing what she drew in. Oh goodie.

"We've spotted him," Bryce said suddenly and came running into the room and slapped a photo on the table. Kendra moved over and looked down at the photo and recognized the profile of the man there. It was the one who'd burned the town before. There was no mistaking it for her, that man was burned into her mind for some reason.

"Where is he?" She asked, and the others looked excited as well. This was their duty to find and probably eliminate this man, or thing.

"He was visiting with a man named Kirosho. We aren't sure but we thought that he might be a werewolf. However, he runs a business in town and there are records of his parentage along with funerals and gravestones. So he might be newly turned, we aren't sure. However, some authorities not far from here said that they saw this man shortly before a rather disastrous situation where five men were killed. We looked into it, they were possessed."

"Interesting," Riley said. "Where is he now?"

"We aren't sure but he's been seen in a few areas. Some humans go missing afterward or say that they have lost time. All look over exhausted and pale." Those were all signs that they were being used as food.

"Alright, look for him. Keep tabs, and also on this creature in the mountains I feel they are connected." Linda said clicking away on her computer. Riley glanced at her and looked annoyed. He split the teams up into who he thought should go where.

And so they did. Over the next week, they managed to find the man three times but were unable to make contact. There weren't any more sightings in the mountain area. But there was a lot of cloud cover all the time and obscured the view, and the day before last they had received snow. However, it seemed that this unknown man who had burned the town was hanging around suddenly. Kendra had a sinking feeling in her stomach that he had noticed them. That he might be aware of them and that was dangerous.

"You're on. Just keep him in sight, we need to know where it is he goes. He just disappears on us." Riley said very annoyed at this. Every attempt they had tried to follow him, he had disappeared.

"Maybe he flies away," Kendra said to Riley and he pointed for her to go. She just shook her head at his lack of humor. She crossed the street and moved a short way down before she went into the bar that was there and up to the counter on the left-hand side. She sat down and smiled at the bartender and asked for a drink. She was lucky, alcohol didn't affect her much.

They were hoping that by sending her in, he wouldn't just up and disappear again. She was trying to figure out how much he knew because it was obvious that he knew he was being followed to some extent. But he was intent on hanging in the area. Kendra wondered now, this being was clearly up to something more than any of them knew. He'd picked up on being followed, so guess they were going to see what happened.

Kendra saw their target sitting alone. He was just watching the occupants here in the bar. She knew that he'd noticed her the second that she came in but seemed to dismiss her just as fast. She still didn't know what he looked like. Just a roundabout visual as she never looked at him head-on. Now it was just a waiting game for her.

_Xerxes__

'She's one of them I'm sure of it.' Zani stated mentally to Xerxes.

'She isn't human.' Xerxes said to Zani. Though he was intently watching this female from the corner of his eye. Something about her, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Zani was currently resting on his back as a tattoo and getting images through Xerxes's mind. They were trying to decide what to do about this group of humans that was watching them. The ones that were capturing different species. Clearly, the group was aware of them now, so they needed to do something about it.

'So, she works for them.'

'I don't know what she is.' Xerxes really didn't, it bothered him slightly. He knew what all the others were, but he couldn't put a finger on what she was. Well, at least she would be easier to approach than a human. They were always so self-absorbed, thinking of themselves as more important than not. He wasn't in the mood to be stabbed today.

She was a beautiful female that was for sure. She had that draw to her. Xerxes noticed it instantly and it wasn't just to humans, it was to the opposite sex of any kind. It was a very strong draw and he couldn't remember ever feeling it so severely in the past. Her figure was slender but not unhealthy. She had a lot of hair that felt mid back and high cheekbones, but she didn't seem to flaunt herself either, her eyes were an ice blue with thick lashes. Why did it feel like his eye was drawn to her? Yes, he was aware of the ability but it was a little strange for him.

Half the men in the room were looking at her, most of the occupants were men anyways. Xerxes was glad for it because like her he exuded that air, more so than most supernaturals. The more power, the more it bled from you. He didn't tend to frequent areas like this, he wasn't looking for the company of a female much anymore. It was all just hollow and reminded him of what he didn't have. He just wanted to figure this group out. How they were going to take care of them because clearly, they were a problem.

'What do you want to do?'

'Make her understand that if they keep following us, they are going to be no more.'

'Okay then. Why are we still sitting here?'

'Because I don't like going up to something I don't know. I don't need a hole in my chest again.' Though that was a little bit of a lie. Deep in his mind where he hid it from Zani, he felt a pull toward this female. Xerxes did chalk it more up to loneliness, and her clear draw of the opposite sex. The thing was there was only so long you could live before it all just kind of felt pointless.

'Yes let's not.' Xerxes sat there a bit longer watching her, but she didn't have an extreme power about her. So he got up and moved over to where she was sitting at the bar. Now seemed like an appropriate time to talk with one of this human 'team' that liked to collect others. Xerxes would make it clear it wasn't a welcome thing and if they kept trying to hunt him they would pay the price.