I would like to dedicate this chapter to my good friend BillyBobJoFredGeorge. You know who you are and why you are receiving this dedication. To everyone who has read, thanks...I can tell you are reading but I would love to know what you think. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record but please, please, please review.

Okay, enjoy!

Bounty: A Hunter’s Tale

Chapter Eight: Moving On

The twenty-four hours following Lex’s death, Natalie refused to leave her room. She locked the doors and would not answer anyone’s calls. Instead she stayed curled up in her bed, her blankets wrapped tight around her, using the pillow as a way to muffle her cries. She still couldn’t believe that he had been the one to kill all those teens; it didn’t seem like him at all. Then again, she really hadn’t known him long so he could have just been putting on a façade. As the hours past and the tears stopped flowing, Natalie began to move around her room more, even going so far as to look in the mirror. Staring back at her was a mess of a girl with tangled strawberry blonde hair that needed to be cleaned and brushed again. The skin around her light gray eyes was red and puffy. Flinching at the sight, she got into her robe and grabbed her shower supplies before darting over to the bathroom.

In the shower she turned the water up as hot as it would go, not really caring about the consequences. The water pounded down on her and she didn’t try to stop the tears from falling again. At least in the shower no one would be able to tell that she was crying. She scrubbed herself thoroughly, as if washing her body would help to cleanse her mind as well.

Forty-five minutes later, Natalie turned the shower off and began drying off. As she stepped out of the shower stall, she ran into Sasha. Not even remotely in the mood to deal with her, Natalie gave her an evil glare, warning her to not even try anything. Sasha turned and darted into the nearest bathroom stall, and Natalie left the bathroom, returning to her bedroom.

In her room, she pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed a black Star Wars t-shirt. Putting her holster on, followed by her guns, shoes, and knives, Natalie walked over to her dresser and looked at her necklaces. She picked up Lex’s necklace, and stared at it for a moment before placing it inside her jewelry box, closing the lid and with it, all the thoughts she had of him. She put on her dragon necklace instead.

Then she walked out of her room, mostly ready to face the world again.

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A few weeks later, Natalie gathered up everything in her room and threw them into her bags. After all those years of training and studying, it was finally over. Graduation was over and she was now ready to go out into the world as a Bounty Hunter. In fact, Headmaster Sheridan had already given her a job on the other side of the country. A coven of dark witches had bewitched a small pack of werewolves and were using them to get rid of the people who stood in their way or acted against them.

Still new out of the Academy, Natalie had to wonder what she would do in regards to living arrangements once she arrived. She grabbed her bags and carried them outside, where a black car waited to take her out to her first real job. After throwing her bags in the trunk, Natalie looked around at the Academy once more, taking it all in and realizing that she no longer had to attend classes there. Then she saw Hank walk around the corner, tending to the flowerbed around the perimeter of the school. “Hank!” she called, waving.

He looked up and saw her, giving a wide grin. “You finally out of here Natalie?” he asked.

She smirked. “Yeah, I’m leaving for my first real job. The only thing is, I have no idea where I’m going to be living when I get there.”

He looked at her curiously. “Where are you going?”

“Central Ohio….some town called Tiffin.”

He nodded his head slowly, as if thinking of something that could help. “I actually know the perfect place for you to stay. My parents live in that area and I’m pretty sure they would be willing to house you.” He began to dig around in his pocket. “The one thing you would need to know before going there is that they’re taking care of my niece, Joelle. Her dad is dead and her mom…well, that’s a long story. She’s a nice girl, though she can be a little shy around strangers, especially men.” Then he pulled out what looked like a family portrait. Natalie examined the features of the faces, locking them in her memory.

“Thanks, Hank. I owe you one.”

“Nah, Nat, you don’t owe me a thing. You are one of only a couple students that actually paid attention to me. Think of it as a graduation gift.” Hank walked over to the driver and began talking with him, giving him directions to his parent’s home.

Natalie smirked, shook her head, and walked back over to the car, hopping in the backseat. Then they pulled away from the Academy. Natalie waved to Hank before turning and looking at the open road ahead of her.

For a while Natalie looked around at the scenery around her but that grew old after a couple hours so she drifted off to sleep. When she woke a few hours later, she found herself looking around at vast plains. Walking along the road just ahead was a boy probably just a little older than herself. “Hey, stop the car,” she told the driver. After the car stopped, she hopped out and walked up to him. He was tall and definitely overweight. Upon seeing her he gave a huge smile. Natalie looked at him wearily, understanding that he was looking for a ride. But giving a ride to a neophyte witch, even an extremely weak one was out of the question.

“Hey!” the boy said with a huge smile. “Stay gay!”

Natalie rolled her eyes, reached to her back, and pulled out her gun, shooting him without even thinking of it. She wasn’t in the mood to put up with anything worthless and he definitely fell in that worthless category. Putting her gun back in the holster, Natalie returned to the car. “Drive,” she ordered. As the driver hit the gas, Natalie let her thoughts wander again, wondering what it would be like in Ohio. She had heard that the temperatures fluctuated a lot more than she was used to, going from extremely hot to extremely cold, and from sunny to stormy in almost a blink of the eye.

‘It should be interesting,’ she thought. Reaching into her backpack, Natalie pulled out the little black book that held all of the information on the various supernatural creatures she could come across out in the field. The main entries included vampires, werewolves, witches, sirens, leprechauns, and demons. Compared to the rest of the list, leprechauns seemed pretty harmless but Natalie knew that sometimes their greed could toss them over the edge, especially if someone managed to get their hold on some of the leprechaun’s gold. Of course, bribery always worked as a way to get the leprechauns to leave.

The various creatures were fascinating, as some of the pop-culture references to them were completely false. Vampires, for example, could be killed by a stake through the heart, but the same could be said about a lot of people and other supernatural creatures. Sunlight was a natural deterrent but they could tolerate to be out there. Silver would harm them but only if it entered the bloodstream…and Holy Water, well that only served as a way to get them wet; it held no special properties to ward off anything.

Werewolves could be killed by silver entering their bloodstream or by breaking their back and severing their spinal cord. Burning them to death was also a good method.

Witches were just humans with special abilities. They could easily be killed in any manner that would kill a human, though the popular methods of being hanged, burning at the stake, or drowning were still preferred.

Sirens were just women that had been betrayed by their husbands, usually resulting in a horrendous ‘death.’ They are brought back as a creature very similar to a succubus, though sirens prey on married men, seducing them and making sure the wife walks in on them in the middle of their seduction before killing the man in front of his wife. While the wife is in shock over losing her husband right before her eyes, the siren would then set the house on fire, killing the woman as well. The only way to get rid of the siren was to kill them by either cutting off their head or running them through with a pole or stake.

Demons were the most fun to deal with, as they were unable to be vanquished. To get rid of the demon, they had to be trapped or banished if a lower level demon. The upper level demons could only be banished. Half-demons, on the other hand, possess a soul and as such, can be killed by human means. The only way a full blooded demon could be killed would be at the hands of another demon.

After almost a full day of driving across the country, Natalie sighed in relief as the driver pulled into a driveway. When the car stopped Natalie opened the door and bolted out of the car, grabbing her bags and walking towards the house. An older man and woman, probably in their early 60s came out of the house, a girl of about sixteen behind them. As Hank had said, the girl was practically using her grandparents as shields to protect her from other people. Natalie smiled and walked up to them. “Hi, I’m Natalie Foxx. Thank you for allowing me to come here.”

The man stepped up first, offering Natalie his hand. She shook it quickly. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Mitch Sawyer. This is my wife Ellen, and my granddaughter Joelle.” He grabbed one of her bags and turned back towards the house. “Let me show you where you’ll be staying. My boy, Hank, has already told me that you’re here on business and that you’re just looking for a place to stay until that job is finished. I just wanted to let you know that you don’t have to rush it; you can stay as long as you need to. It will be nice to have a full house again.”

Natalie smiled. Mitch Sawyer was obviously very warm, and excited to have people in his home. She followed him upstairs where he showed her the room she would be staying in. “Jo’s room is right next to yours. Ellen and I stay downstairs most of the time. The stairs are starting to get to us.” He dropped her bags on the bed. “Well, if you need anything, just holler. We’ll be around.”

“Thank you.” Natalie watched him leave then checked on the weapons she had brought for the job. Luckily none of them were damaged. She looked around her room. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of wood. It was definitely a country home. The bed was covered with a homemade quilt and the bedside table had an antique looking lamp on it. The dresser and closet were right next to each other and Natalie found that the closet was full of stuff. It didn’t matter though; she wouldn’t be using them to store anything. She always stayed packed, just in case she had to leave quickly.

All in all, the place was nice, Mitch and Ellen seemed inviting, and Jo was intriguing. Natalie smiled. She could get used to this.