Valerie stared down at the chessboard in front of her, lost in thought. So much had happened in the course of the week since she first met Jon face to face. He had rejected her offer to join the club, something which didn’t inherently surprise her. But that relationship with the girl she knew almost nothing about had progressed. The head of Occulta Disciplina would still on occasion bump into him in-between classes or catch him studying in the library. But in such a short time he had seemingly become completely enraptured with this girl and everything else had fallen to the wayside.

“It’s your move,” Tai, who was sitting across the table from her, finally spoke up waking her from her trance.

“Sorry...I was just thinking.”

She cocked her head at her curiously. “What about, President?”

“Who is that girl Jon is seeing? What's her name?”

She thought for a moment. “I think it's...Miyako something? Why do you ask?”

Valerie shook her head while fiddling with the bishop piece she still had clutched in her hand. “It's nothing. I was just curious is all. They've been dating for barely a week and the two are seemingly attached at the hip.”

Tai chuckled at her mischievously. “Is that a hint of jealousy I hear in your voice?”

“Not jealousy,” she admitted. “Intrigue.”

“You think she might interfere with our plans for him?” A thought occurred to her Queen. “Hold on...does this have anything to do with that incident in the warehouse? The one with the Doppelganger?”

She didn't respond. Rather, Valerie simply moved the bishop in her hand a few spaces on the board. “Checkmate.”

Tai stared down at the board in perplexity before pouting in irritation. “I really thought I had you that time.”

“Your strategy was fine but fairly basic.” Valerie stood up and walked over to her desk. While Tai tried to figure out where she went wrong, her President opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out a small ornate box. Inside, a set of blood-red crystals lay within a velvet interior. Each one bore a different noble crest upon it and radiated with untapped power.

She ran a single finger along the stones in the velvet-lined box. Some were missing, serving as a constant reminder that her collection was not yet complete. Valerie stopped upon placing her finger on a single stone before taking it out of the box and running it through her hand.

This one bore the Crest of the Knight. Such a simple piece, given there were seven more just like it in the small ornate box. Yet right now, it was the only piece that mattered to her. Simply holding it in her hands made her wrist start to tremble in excitement. Feeling a little whimsical, she decided to connect the stone to a small golden chain she kept in the box, turning it into a pendant which she then wore around her neck and clutched to her chest.

“I’ll be in the shower,” she declared.

Tai nodded in understanding. “Of course, Ms. President.”

With that, she made her way to the showers located next to the Chapter Room. Valerie stripped herself of everything save for her pendant which she continued to run through her fingers, before entering one of the ornate, well-furnished stalls and turning on the water. She let the warm liquid wash over her body, relaxing her senses and easing her mind.

Her thoughts slowly turned to Jon and this new girlfriend of his. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she could use her if need be. His encounter with the Doppleganger proved that much, at least. For now, she would not interfere with whatever this blossoming thing the two of them shared was. That said, she would not simply let this girl do as she pleased either. So many had tried and failed to lure this man into their clutches, and she had come the closest. Valerie wasn’t about to let anything interfere with that. Not with her prize being so close.

“What is it about you?” She mumbled to herself as she ran a bar of soap across her skin with one hand and clutched the pendant with the other. “What is it about you that fascinates me so, Jon?”

Valerie Duval thought back to her first encounter with the man. Maybe it was just a simple infatuation with his power; he possessed the Mark of the Great Beast after all. Yet there was more to it than that. She liked to think that her obsession with his abilities was simply that and nothing more, but she couldn’t separate the image of Jon from that desire. Especially now that she’d had the chance to speak to him face to face for the first time.

She didn’t just want the mark, she wanted him.

Ever since the day she watched him kill the Elder Vampire Carlia, her thoughts had become wholly consumed by the young Hunter, the man the Church nicknamed Heaven’s Revolver: a human capable of slaying creatures no mortal should have been able to bring down on their own.

If he joined them….

A small erotic moan escaped Val’s lips. She opened her eyes and looked down at her hand now soaked in her own wetness. At some point she’d dropped the soap and slipped off into a daydream. Her heart was racing and her mind had gone blank as she continued to indulge in her secret little fantasies.

It wasn't a crush, of that she was sure. This was lust she was feeling. Lust, not just for power, but for the man behind that power as well. Valerie started to laugh, an amused little chuckle that emanated from the back of her throat. The pieces were all falling into place, and try as she may to maintain a certain disposition around the others, the excitement of what was soon to come was making her antsy.

“Jon...what are you doing to me?” She stared up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts, dreaming of making him hers forever.

~~

Within the catacombs of the church, Jonathan could hear every sound around him, every drip of water from the ceiling, every bug crawling on the wall. He could smell the damp moss and decaying molder holding the old walls in place. The cool, moist air sent vibrations through his skin with every disturbance in the space around him.

After a moment, the target in front of him dropped. The revolver on his hip left its holster within a fraction of a second and fired. The second target fell several yards to his left. Another shot. The next was to his right. Yet another shot. Two more targets appeared at different points in the catacombs, to which he fired off two more shots. Finally, one more fell directly behind him. Jon rolled forwards and turned, firing his last shot all within the span of time it took for the target to land from the ceiling.

He twirled the revolver on his finger before holstering the empty gun.

“All targets hit. Four in the head, two in the heart. Not bad, Jon,” a gruff voice called out from the catacombs entrance.

He removed the blindfold and allowed his heightened vision to adjust to the near pitch blackness that surrounded him. The bald, aging Priest who spoke to him from the nearby entrance approached, a lantern in hand.

“Father Kyle,” Jon greeted. “I wasn’t expecting you’d be done with Mass already, with it being Easter and all.”

“We took a break. The clergy is holding a meeting to discuss assignments for the next hunting season,” he explained. “Also, the kids are outside collecting eggs.”

He chuckled in a humorless tone before taking a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it, much to Father Kyle’s annoyance. “Can I assume you didn't come down to convince me to play babysitter again?”

“You know I expressly forbid those things on church grounds.”

Jon shrugged apathetically. “You may want to remind Father Belmont of that rule.” He flicked the ash onto the damp floor. “He goes through like a pack a day behind the confessional booths.”

Father Kyle sighed wearily whilst rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I did not come down here to pick a fight with you, my son. I’m here to offer you an assignment.”

He took a long drag from his smoke before blowing it up into the air. “You know, eight years we’ve known each other, and never once did you ever feel the need to deliver anything like that to me in person. What makes this one so special?”

“Because…” he added, straightening his posture. “...it will be your first assignment alone.”

The cigarette fell from Jon’s stunned mouth. “You mean…”

He nodded. “Yes. As of this moment, you are considered a full-fledged member of the Order. Your ceremony will be next week, but in the meantime, we have your first job lined up.”

“But...are you sure I’m ready?”

“You have to be,” Father Kyle stated with pertinence. “Dark forces are stirring, my son. Now more than ever, the will of God must be enforced upon the wicked. We’ve lost too many in our crusade against evil.”

He put the lantern down and reached into his robes before pulling out an ornate box. “Along with your new position, we have also commissioned a welcoming gift, of sorts. Go ahead, open it.”

Jon approached the wooden box in Father Kyle’s hands. He ran his finger along the smooth, treated wood before gently opening the lid. What lay inside took his breath away.

“It was delivered last night, straight from the Vatican. And don’t worry, it’s already been blessed,” Father Kyle stated with a hint of pride.

He pulled the custom Smith and Wesson from the velvet bedding it rested in before running one hand along its silver finish while the other held the weapon by its pearl grip firmly. The gun was decorated with detailed and intricate designs depicting the crucifixion of Christ, including a trail of thorns up the gun’s barrel.

“It’s gorgeous,” he admitted.

“Gorgeous…” Father Kyle agreed. “...and deadly. You’ll find no better revolver in the world when it comes to hunting monsters.”

Jon pulled the cylinder away from the barrel and inspected each immaculately polished chamber. Six custom rounds fit like a glove into each hole, six rounds that could take down an Elder Vampire as easily as a normal bullet could take down a human.

Finally, he had a weapon with which to exact his vengeance.

“Thank you,” he finally managed to say, looking up at Father Kyle for the first time since receiving his weapon.

The Priest placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. “You are a weapon of God now, my son. Go forth, and spread his name to all the dark corners of the Earth.”

~~

Jon continued to rub the high-grade polish along the barrel of his custom Smith and Wesson. He finished with an extra polishing of each individual firing chamber before inspecting the weapon. After years of use, the gun still looked as new as it did the day he got it.

A knock on his apartment door broke him from his concentration.

“Just a sec!” he called before quickly putting the gun in the desk drawer and going to greet his visitor.

Jon opened his apartment door to find his girlfriend Miya waiting patiently, a beaming smile on her face. The moment he opened up she leapt on the tips of her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him lovingly.

“Hey you,” she purred at him.

“Hey you, yourself,” he replied with a slick grin while holding her firmly against his body. “You’re a little early. I wasn’t expecting you for another half hour.”

“Yeah, sorry,” she apologized while running a slender finger along his cheek. “Work let me off early today and I wasn’t sure what else to do.”

“Do you see me complaining?” he asked matter of factly.

She giggled at him sweetly. “Fair enough. So are you ready to go?”

“Just give me a sec to get my coat.”

Jon let her go and turned to head back inside. He quickly grabbed his coat from his bedroom and turned to make his way back to her. He stopped, his eyes turning to the desk drawer where his gun was. He never left it behind, and yet here he was a hair’s breadth away from forgetting it entirely. His new girlfriend was making him sloppy.

“You coming, Babe?” Miya called from the entrance.

“Yeah! Just a second!” he called back before quickly opening the drawer and loading the gun with six custom rounds. Once done, he slid the cylinder back in place and holstered the gun within his jacket, well out of sight, before finally making his way back to Miya.