Dark as it was, Jon’s eye could still adjust enough for him to see comfortably. Not only that, his quarry was kind enough to leave a nice trail of his own blood for him to follow. The trail led him to a veritable maze of rusty old cargo containers before cutting off.

“Damn…” Jon swore under his breath. He was hoping the trail would go on a little longer before the Doppelganger managed to start healing. Slowly, he began making his way through the containers, ever wary of the noises around him. The sound of something clanging against metal caught his attention. Jon rushed to the source and took aim but there was no one there.

A moment later, the creature struck, pouncing on Jon before knocking him to the floor. The gun flew from his hand as the two wrestled on the ground, with the yellow-eyed monster eventually assuming the dominant position.

“Just give it up, human.” The creature who looked exactly like Jon sneered hatefully while trying to choke the life out of him. “I’m in your head now. I know all your tricks.”

“Doesn’t mean you know everything.” Jon struggled in his grip, his voice coming in choked gasps. “For instance...what I have in my pockets.”

Before the Doppelganger could react, Jon produced a glass bottle which he proceeded to smash against the creature’s face. It howled in agony before falling on its side, clutching at its searing flesh.

“It burns!” The inhuman monster spoke in a voice that was definitely not Jon. “What is this?!”

“Doesn’t matter- your species-” Jon explained after catching his breath and standing up. “...and all other creatures of darkness have the same two fundamental weaknesses. Blessed silver and Holy water. That shape-shifting ability of yours is pretty impressive. But ain’t no way in hell you’ll be fixing that ugly mug any time soon.”

The Doppelganger growled at him in seething anger, half his face now permanently seared by the Holy Water. He slowly stood back to his feet while Jon drew a twelve-inch serrated silver knife from his jacket. They circled each other for a moment, each looking for any sign of weakness in their opponent.

“Not sure what it is you’re hoping to prove here,” the Doppelganger spoke in his voice again, a malicious grin on his lips. “I know all your tactics, Jon.”

The Hunter struck first, slicing at his opponent who nimbly dodged out of the way.

“All your weapons training, your Krav Maga, everything,” the Doppelganger insisted while avoiding each slash of the blade. Jon went in for a stab, whereupon the creature grabbed him by the arm and used his own momentum against him, turning the blade on its wielder, and sinking it deep into Jon’s thigh. He shouted in pain before gritting his teeth and falling to a knee.

“Face it, I’m basically you, only stronger and faster.” The creature continued to taunt him before gripping Jon by the throat and slamming him down into the concrete floor, hard. He regained the dominant position and began choking the life out of him once more.

“No more cards left to play?” he asked as Jon struggled to break free. “Well, too bad. My boss wants you alive, but I guess she’ll just have to be content with me bringing her your corpse.”

The sound of a revolver hammer cocking back caught the Doppelganger's ears a fraction of a second too late. Before he could react, the creature felt a holy round hit him square in the back following the sound of gunfire punctuating the air. He lurched up, the breath leaving his lungs as the bullet traveled through his spine into his chest whereupon he slowly turned his head around to see who had shot him.

Miya was standing behind him, the smoking Holy Revolver in her trembling hands.

“Wh...why…” He coughed up blood as the mortal wound finally caught up to him.

Jon seized the opportunity and rolled, bringing the Doppleganger to the ground before gripping the hilt of his knife and, with one swift motion, pulling it out of his own leg. Running on pure adrenaline, he then plunged the blade deep into the creature’s throat, whereupon its eyes rolled into the back of its head as it released one final death rattle.

With the struggle at last coming to a conclusion, Jon took a moment to catch his breath while Miya slowly lowered the gun. A tense silence filled the air as both of them regained their senses.

“So...I have just one very important question for you,” he finally spoke, still slightly out of breath.

“Why didn’t I leave?” she guessed, still slightly shell shocked.

He shook his head. “No. That ain’t it.” Jon took another breath before continuing. “Considering you could only see the back of his head…”

Jon slowly turned around and glared at her.

“How the hell did you know that wasn’t me you just shot?!”

She chuckled nervously before shrugging her shoulders. “Lucky guess?”

He gawked at her incredulously.

“Kidding!” she suddenly assured him. “Totally kidding.” Miya then pointed to the body he was lying under. “That wound on his arm where you shot him tipped me off.”

He looked back down at the corpse to find that, despite having started to heal, the wound was still there.

Jon chuckled. “Guess those holy rounds were good for one thing after-agh!!”

He clutched at his knife wound, gritting his teeth as pain shot through his entire leg. With the adrenaline having worn off, the grievous injury at last caught up to him.

“Jon!” Miya gently put down the revolver before running over to him. She helped the wounded Hunter onto his back while he worked to control his breathing.

“Be honest. How bad is it?” Jon asked while grimacing through the pain.

Miya inspected the wound and cupped a hand over her gaping mouth. She was no doctor, but even she could tell that it was terrible. The blade had gone pretty deep and the wound itself was bleeding quite badly.

“We need to get you to a hospital,” she insisted urgently.

He shook his head. “Not an option. If you go to the ER with a knife wound, the first thing they do is call the cops.”

“Jon, are you crazy?!” Her voice was frantic. “You could bleed to death! Or it could get infected! You can’t just ignore this.”

“I ain’t gonna,” he assured while reaching into his jacket and pulling out a small first aid kit. “Once I get back to my apartment, I can whip something up that’ll do the trick.”

“Whip something up?” she repeated as if not quite believing the words coming out of his mouth. “What, are you gonna rub cinnamon and clove on it? Last I checked, knife wounds can’t be cured with holistic remedies!”

“Just trust me…” he grunted through the pain of sitting up. “...this isn’t the first time I’ve had to patch myself up like this.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it really doesn’t.”

“Yeah well…” He whipped open the first aid kit and applied a field bandage to the wound before applying pressure with a tourniquet. “...if it’s any consolation, I’ve lived through a lot worse.”

She frowned at him in concern. “You really weren’t kidding. All that stuff you said about being a Hunter, fighting monsters, it wasn't a lie.”

Jon’s expression darkened. “I wish it was.”

A gloomy silence enveloped them. Until at last, Miya gently placed her hand on his leg.

“How can I help?”

He gazed up into her warm, concerned eyes and, for a moment, forgot about the pain entirely.

“I’m serious,” she insisted. “Tell me what to do to help you, Jon.”

After a moment, he smiled at her and reached into his jacket again before pulling out a small metal flask. “Take this. Douse the body in its contents.”

She blinked at him in confusion before taking the flask gingerly in her hands. “Okay? But why?”

“We need to dispose of the evidence,” he explained. “It’ll take too long for the body to rot away on its own, so we’re gonna have to burn it.”

“Okay, but you’ll need something a lot stronger than alcohol to burn a body,” she insisted.

Jon chuckled at her in amusement, trying to get his mind off the hideous pain in his leg. “Would you just trust me? I know what I’m doing.”

She sighed before rolling her eyes. “Fine.”

Miya proceeded to open the flask and pour its contents onto the body.

“What about your knife?” she asked while dousing the corpse.

“It’s useless now. Leave it there,” he said.

“Are you sure?” After pouring the flask's contents onto the body she reached down to grab the hilt of the blade. “I think I can pull it out for you if you want to…”

Upon pulling out the blade, she noted that it was dissolving in her hand. Miya quickly dropped it before turning to Jon and staring at him in puzzlement.

“Silver, just like Holy Water, is a deadly poison to their kind,” he explained. “Their bodies can’t absorb it the way they could standard bullets.”

She shook her head in absolute disbelief at him. “And you’ve been doing this for how long?”

“Longer than I care to admit.” Jon then produced his engraved lighter and offered it to her. “Now take this and light the body. Carefully.”

Miya took the lighter and lit it before gingerly placing the flame against the body’s arm. She let out a yelp of surprise as the whole thing proceeded to go up in flames. Within a matter of seconds, it burned down to nothing but ash.

“See?” He grinned at her. “Like it never happened.”

“What was that stuff?”

“Holy Oil,” he explained. “Guaranteed to clean up your monster mess in seconds flat.” Jon winced as another wave of pain shot up his leg. “Now if it’s all the same to you, I’m ready to get the hell out of here.”

“Let me help you,” she offered before grabbing his revolver and placing his arm around her shoulders, assisting Jon back to his feet. Once he was standing again they began the slow methodical process of exiting the warehouse, with Jon limping every step of the way.

“Hey…” Miya spoke up in a hushed voice.

“What is it?” he asked while limping to the door.

“Thank you.” She turned her head away and blushed. “You saved my life.”

He smiled at her. “You ain’t gotta thank me. You saved mine too after all. Pretty sure we’re even.”

She giggled at him despite the situation. “All the same. Thank you.”

They made their way out of the warehouse, leaving the scene of the grisly confrontation behind them.