Report Four: The Boy Who Breaks Chains

What binds you to this world?
Is it revenge? Greed? Life? Or is it...
Bitter Memories?

- Dark, The Book of Memories

Halloween was a clear crisp night. It felt like forever since Ishtar had stepped out of his college with his inhuman companion. Could tonight be the night where he found the person the corrupted chain belonged to? At the moment it didn't exactly matter, he had to kick some undead ass.

His tail swished in anticipation as he crunched through the brush. It was a simple task, one where he needed to find they undead creatures that were "calling out" to him, and put them to rest. Many of the creatures of higher intelligence had been conversing about him, D, and Mik who had worked separately from the day they met each other. It was probably because the man knew that he would one day depart this world by Ishtar's hands--and the boy would not hesitate to complete his mission.

Isthar wasn't a cruel person, he was still quite soft about things, he just had very little choice when it came to his occupation. The last time he went to the village he was constantly harassed by the occupants to get rid of some ghoul that happened to live in their village. Apparently Ishtar had the mark of the "blessed" hunters. He had yet to figure out what that was.

The area suddenly felt cold, everything had fell silent. Not a bird or mouse made a sound. The familiar chill of death ran up and down the chimera's spine. There had been several deaths in the area, all of the victims had been missing their heads, and their hearts had been torn out. Whatever the spirit was, it was vengeful.

In the blink of an eye Ishtar found himself pinned to a tree by his companion, a hand tightly clamped around his mouth. The young man did not struggle against the other's force he simply watched as the bush not too far off where a creature seemed to ooze from. It had the form of a young man at first, but on closer inspection  his form shifted with the shadows, and revealed a muzzle with rows of sharp pointy teeth.

It might take more than a gun to handle this problem.

D's grip grew tighter as the creature slinked past them. It wasn't ignoring them, it couldn't see or smell them thanks to D's special abilities of self preservation. Ishtar's hand reached up to his chest, reaching under his collar for a small silver cross he often used on vampires. The chimera chucked in towards the creature.

It hit the creature with a soft thump followed by a terrible sizzle. The creature itself hissed maliciously at the cross as it spun around. However it still could not see it's target.

On the bright side, holy things would probably kill it, or at least weaken it.

Ishtar gave the signal for D to release, and he did as such falling backwards to create an easy line of sight. The young chimera leapt forward with a cross in hand, slashing at the creature.

The creature was taken by surprise, and fell backwards into the brush. It thrashed violently as the cross came closer, and did it's best to escape. However, Ishtar had already pinned it neatly to the ground. It continued to trash as the cross seared into it's skull. It let out a hollow cry of pain. 

Ishtar watched as the figure faded into that of a person not too much older than he was. The man was writhing and hissing in pain. "Bastard!" he cried and tried to swipe Ishtar across the face.

The chimera held steady and leaned in closely, "What keeps you bound to this place?"

"GET OFF," the man hissed.

"What binds you to this place, Sir?" Ishtar hissed as he slammed the cross down on the man's neck.

There was a horrible howl from the man as he replied, "My life was taken before I could see the smile on my lover's face once more! I want revenge! REVENGE!"

"I'll give the Angel of Wrath your order, but for now, I think you should see your long lost lover," Ishtar smiled softly before pulling a silver bladed knife from his boot.

Darkness wasn't as evil as most people thought it was. At least he could find his way to the light this way. At least, that's what Ishtar told himself everyday.

"The boy is too dangerous to leave alone," the woman whispered to the darkness. "We should send him home to that lab girl. The one that wants to know his status all the time."

The darkness whispered back, "We haven't the power to do that. The boy is strong enough to break our chains."

"I highly doubt that," the woman hissed softly. "There are things stronger than hatred binding us to this place. We can't let him find his chain's end..."

"Of course we can't we must kill him."

The woman seemed completely taken off guard. "But we shouldn't do something like that to him, he doesn't--"

"We're much more important than he'll ever be."

She couldn't argue with the darkness, it didn't really exist.

Isthar swallowed hard. This was his worse nightmare. He just didn't want to face it.

D was humorless as he tugged on the man's sleeves, "It's not a big deal."

"I hate parties! And this is a masquerade ball!" 

"But you need to get rid of the spirits and you said yourself that the creature or thing bound to you is probably there."

"I don't really care!" Ishtar screamed as he clung tighter to the doorframe.

"My God, what on earth is going on," said a familiar vampire hunter's voice. Mikheil slinked past the growling chimera into the house hold. Normal trespassing rules did not apply to him, and he took advantage of it. "You aren't going to the masquerade ball dressed like that are you?"

All supernatural creatures were invited to the masquerade ball, there were no exceptions. It was the one night that the creatures pretended to get along. Ishtar had been invited by a rather "prominent" member of some random supernatural court. Angels if he remembered correctly. He was expected to show up to the party slightly early for the preparations. However there was the horrible hitch that he hated parties with an amazing passion.

This was no exception. He was desperately clinging to the doorframe with a renewed vigor. Mikheil shook his head, "Boy, you really have no taste. You at least need a mask," he was unusually snarky today. It was probably because he had to deal with actual vampires on cordial terms when he wanted them dead.

"I'm not going," the young chimera insisted.

D let go of him and watched as he clung to the door frame with his legs and tail. Kola was the first thought that drifted through the books mind. Of course he would never say that out loud to his master.

"Of course you are," Mik hissed quietly. He was probably tetchy because he was one of three vampire hunters invited to the ball, and he had to be cordial to them as well as the vampire's. That made him want to scream, but instead he took his anger out on the young man who stood before him. "I have the perfect costume for you, my little Dead Hunter Chimera."

Isthar did not like the smirk.

Mik had been over powered by the young chimera and forced him into a nice black tail suit, along with a black half mask that covered his eyes. His suit had simple golden trim that gave him an appearance of elegance. Ishtar was far from thrilled. It felt as if he was going to die of sheer mortification as he strolled through the crowd with D and Mikheil by his side in even simpler costumes. Women of the unusual sort were glancing at him as he passed by.

The women were elaborately dressed in skirts and billowing Victorian dresses. Sine had elaborate masks covered in feathers and gleaming stones, while others had simple half masks like the men. Hair was elaborately done, shoes were too high, and the whole scene was too much glitter for Ishtar to handle. He was just waiting for the Angel of Music to show up any minute in his half mask and angry yelling.

A man walked up to the chimera with an amazing gait. His hair was pitch black, and his eyes were brighter than the sun--he assumed that it was the angel that so kindly invited him to this horrible event. Ishtar's thoughts were confirmed when the man shook his hand vigorously and welcomed him to the Twelfth Annual Halloween Ball.

"It's so nice to finally meet someone who can change the world!" the man exclaimed as he lead Ishtar and his companions to their seats.

Ishtar was distracted by a strange figure. She looked like some sort of metal doll in a giant pleated dress. Her hair was long and flowing red, that reached down the the ground, and her dress was a fantastic golden color. Her mask was a simple black one with white shields across her eyes. She reminded Isthar so much of the Angel of Wraith, but that wasn't possible was it?

She looked at him with those blank eyes, sending a chill up his spine. She looked like a doll made of metal. A construct perhaps?

"Mister Ishtar perhaps you would like to meet a good friend of mine," the Angel said.

Ishtar looked over to him, "If that's what you want." He turned back to search for the girl, who had disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Damnit. Where the hell had she gone?

"The Boy Who Breaks Chains?" the voice questioned in a airy tone.

Isthar didn't look over, he could feel the chill of the ghost. Ishtar offered a hand as he searched for the girl.

The scream was unbearable. Everyone jumped for the ground, covered their ears or headed for the exits.

"What have you done to her!" screamed the bright angel who had introduced him.

Isthar sighed and looked over to the angel. "I simply did my job."