While returning to the village, I felt uneasy after meeting this Huntsman. Even though he didn’t hurt me, tried to be friendly, wanted to cooperate and help, and I was pretty sure told me the truth, there was something eerie about him. Nevermind my initial aversion to him, there was something unnatural in his grey hair, in his luminescent azure eyes, in his pale face… There was something wrong about him.

To become a Hunter, one must capture or kill a monster and drink a cup of its blood. This blood grants us unusual dexterity, strength, reflexes, resistance to poisons and many other things - depending on which beast’s blood the one drank. And every year approximately at the same time, give or take a month, the Hunter must drink the blood of the beast of the same type, to maintain their abilities.

My beast was rafn, a crowlike bird, the size of a huge dog, swift like a wind and not very hostile to humans. The only reason they are hunted is because they gather in flocks and steal sheep, goats and even calves. But these birds are immune to most poisons and cold, so choosing their blood was a wise decision in my mind, even though most hunters usually choose stronger beasts.

If one is not a Hunter, they won’t be able to define what blood stands behind another Hunter’s strength, for our looks are usually not affected by it. But Huntsman… he was different. I had no doubt why people were scared of him and why they believed him to be a monster. He didn’t look totally human. The blood changed him, not a lot, but still… Why? Maybe when you live more than a millennia it will change you after all. But how did he manage to survive for that long? Most Hunters from what I’ve heard live 400 years, give or take a few decades. Eventually one is either killed by a monster, or they stop drinking blood, become old and in a couple of years they peacefully pass away. And why haven’t I heard of him before? This Huntsman has to be both persistent and skillful to live that long. Or maybe there is something else?..

Being lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice how I entered the village and even walked down a few streets. It was so peaceful and quiet. I could not believe that people are being killed here.

Then I saw a shadow and under the faint moonlight the silvery hair glimmered. In a moment I heard a sound of window breaking and a scream.

It all went wrong!