As Mallory said, Hunter and I eventually found ourselves under the bridge that connects the neighboring town. We take the stone stairs built into the side of the cliff, up onto the street.

Attempts to make conversation with Hunter repeatedly fell flat. Every time I tried, he’d just give me a confused stare. If I was lucky he’d nod or grunt.

“So, uh… where should I take you?” I break the silence once again. “Do you live here?”

Hunter gives me that confused stare again, his lips pursing slightly as he looks away for a moment.

“Yeah, I live at the orphanage.”

“…Which one?”

“There’s more than one…?”

I nod and hum an affirmation. Though that’s not completely true. There is only one “orphanage”, and the rest of the places are technically big foster homes, but everyone calls them all orphanages. A bit odd that he doesn’t know which one he belongs to.

“I-I live at the nearest one.” Hunter finally says.

Does he even know where we are?

“Ohh, that one. Alright, I’ll take you there.” I smile reassuringly. I turn and head down the street. “Let’s hurry and get you home, then.”

As we walk, I can’t help but wonder what exactly I was dealing with. We spent a good 30 minutes in that river, so it can’t be a demon. Our information on vampires is pretty lacking, so I’m not sure whether or not water deters them these days. So, 50/50 chance Hunter is that.

Or really, there’s a 50/50 chance he’s any monster excluding demon.

Sure, I could just be jumping to conclusions. Being in Suicide Forest usually brings severe paranoia out of people. Buuut, generally speaking, anyone referring to Lilith’s as “the orphanage” is a monster looking to cause trouble, or an out-of-town hunter looking to recruit.

And this kid, despite his name, did not look like a hunter.

So, I take him to one of our bases. We’ve got a few spread throughout the county, abandoned by the hunters before us. Some are lame shacks, while others are impressive underground bunkers. The one I’m taking Hunter to is an apartment more towards the center of town.

“Is this the orphanage…?” He asks in a soft voice, gazing up at the 4-story building.

“Uh-huh.”

He seems hesitant to follow me in. God, I hope he doesn’t run. It always turns into a huge scene, and then I have to spend like a week doing damage control. Countless paperwork just because one or two people might see me kill what looks like a little kid.

“Come on, aren’t you cold?” I add, trying to hide how suspicious I was of him.

That seemed to be the only nudging he needed. He follows me into the apartment building and into the elevator, which we took to the third floor. The base was the apartment room all the way at the end of the hall, where the lights had been permanently blown out.

We don’t have a key to the apartment, so we just leave it unlocked. I push the door open and step back, gesturing for him to go inside. He glances at me nervously, then timidly steps into the dark apartment.

“This is an orphanage…?”

I step in myself, shut, and lock the door. With a tired sigh, I extend my spear.

“No, it’s not. Why do you want to be at one so bad?”

He flinches as my spear clicks into place. “T-To live there?”

“I’m only going to ask once.” I move in closer, the spear aimed at his head. "What are you?”

Hunter seems frozen in fear, his eyes so wide they just might fall out. His mouth opens and closes a few times as he backs up. I keep close until he hits the back wall.

“I-I’m just a shapeshifter.”