Marcus whistled a tune while going through his collection of books in his room. The large bookshelf contained comic book trades and mangas he collected throughout the years. But others were dusty enchanted spell books older than himself.

“The Eldrich Chronicles, The Fourth Nomricon, Druids guide to Wryms, why are these out in the open!?” Zoran demanded. After arriving he had followed Marcus to his room and looked over his collection with him. “These are powerful books of the arcane, why are they out on display like this?”

Marcus only smiled, and finished his tune before he answered, “I prefer to share knowledge, not horde it. Something your organization should work on.” Reaching out, he stretched to grab a thick book with a scaled green cover and decorated in black petals sewn onto the spine on the top shelf. His fingertips only grazing the spine as he stood on his toes.

Zoran rolled his eyes, grabbing the book and held it above Marcus, “If you’re referring to my job, in case you don’t know, but it was the humans who put this on themselves. It was their punishment for what they did to us.” He waved the book in front of the other, “You know, the countless hunts of our kind and the headhunting by demigods seeking glory.”

“I am fully aware of what they have done, and I am fully capable of forgiving the future generations for their ancestors wrong doings.” Snatching the book from him, he flipped through a couple of pages and pointed at a page covered in ancient glyphs. “This should be it. Let’s return to the group.”

Zoran followed Marcus out his apartment room and upstairs to the roof where a garden was growing inside of a large greenhouse. Upon entering, they were hit with the sweet aroma of various fruits, ranging from apples to kiwis. Tables with various decorated pots lined the walls and hanging from the ceiling had vibrant and plump fruits.

Zoran whistled, expecting the produce, “Impressive. Some of these aren’t even in season.”

“Jericho always had a way with life.” Marcus mused.

“No way he did this alone. Did he use some sort of chemicals?”

Marcus shook his head, “All natural.”

As they made their way towards the end of the green house they spotted Diana and Angela sitting beside Jericho who was laying shirtless on his hammock. Diana expected Jericho’s now healed wound. “Good work Angie. But it took too long. To be a functioning combat mage you need to pull those out in a moments notice and as fast as you can. Try to focus solely on the task. Healing spells may take a while, and a lot can happen while you are doing so, but just block the world out.”

Angela nodded, determined to improve her skills, “Yes Dianna.” She beamed by the advice she was given. “Thanks for letting me heal you Jericho.”

Jericho got up and stretched, rubbing his side where the wound was, “Call me JJ, all my friends do.”

Jericho noticed Marcus and instantly perked up, “Marcus feel this!” He rubbed and pointed to where the deep wound was, “Feel it! There’s no scar.”

Marcus’s face flushed slightly and pulled up his book, “Found it.” He passed by Jericho without a word who shrugged it off and slipped on his shirt, walking after him. “This should help with the search. It’s a book of curses. Shows you how to perform them and how to track them. I book marked the Curse of the Wendigo, you can use this space as much as you want, I’m down stairs if you need anything. “

“Wait wait wait. You’re leaving?” Jericho whined.

“And so are you JJ.” Marcus answered. “This is out of our league. Wendigos in the city, Keepers being ambushed, I don’t like this JJ, it smells like someone’s plotting something disastrous.” Marcus explained. “This isn’t our fight.”

“He’s right JJ. This is our job, we can do this.” Angela spoke up.

“I can help, please, this is my city. Let me help defend it.” Jericho begged. “They’re killing my neighbors, scaring my friends, and you think I’m going to sit here and-“

A blood curdling scream filled the night sky followed by a brutal roar. In an instant, Zoran was gone, vanishing into air. Angie booked towards the exit, followed by Diana.

Jericho cursed and followed after them, only to be stopped by Marcus, he held his arm back, meeting his gaze. “Marcus, please… Let me go.” Looking at Marcus, he pleaded once more, “This is our city Marcus. Let’s defend it.”

“We’re not superheroes JJ. We’re not dealing with moon witches, these are blood thirsty immortal monsters.” Marcus explained. “They can’t be reasoned with, only killed. And that’s just the wendigos, I’m sure someone put them here, but I don’t know who. Are you sure you’re up for this.”

Jericho gave him a determined look, Marcus knew better than persuading him otherwise now. “Fine, but for the love of gods, please be careful. I swear if you get hurt the wendigos will be the least of your worries. Stay near the Keepers and listen to them goddammit.”

Before leaving Jericho kissed the other’s cheek before grabbing his cloak and bounding after the group.