The pavement was joyously cold on her bare feet as Lily sauntered down the quiet and sleeping neighbourhood. Her high-heeled shoes were neatly hung, and swinging freely, by the straps on her hooked fingers as she all but danced down the street that seemed peacefully quiet in it's slumber.

The houses, save for one or two, had no lights, and as this wasn't beside a main road, the lamp posts were also switched off. Which told her that at the very least it was some time passed midnight. Not that she minded dancing to an open sky with nothing but the soft twinkle of stars as her audience or partner.

The alcohol coursing through her system, as well as the very recent fire of her dalliance in the bathroom, caused a jovial smile to be painted in red along her features, as her limbs stretched upwards and she gave a small twirl on the spot. Malcolm she thought his name was. Or was it Logan? She couldn't quite remember. Which would not do if she planned on seeing him again. She remembered his taste though. Whiskey and cigarettes. Like a rock star, she thought. His touch and his taste still blossomed in its phantasmal memory across her skin, and she was convinced wholly of this rock star image. Conjuring dreams of dusk-lit make outs on the hood of a red car to the echo of shredded guitar. And as everyone else in her little group seems to be shacking up and moving on, why shouldn't she do that also?

By everyone else, she meant only Marshal, but knew that if Marshal could find somebody that looks at him like that, it was only a matter of time before everyone else did.

Well maybe not Alice for a while. They knew that her and Yasmine had something between them, why they were so hush-hush about it all; was completely incomprehensible to Lily. But they had been happy. And now they're not. So maybe Alice won't shack up just yet.

Alaric is too busy brooding that he is somehow insanely oblivious that every "randomer" he seems to pick up is anything but random. They all have brown hair. Hazel eyes. And tanned skin. Lily didn't need to be Alice to pick up the pattern in that one.

The brown haired, hazel eyed, tanned skin one most people would refer to as "Rhys" was a whole headache on to himself. He was so patient and relaxed that even if you were a telepath you'd most likely fall asleep trying to read his mind. Or at least that was the air he put on. He didn't care about anything but his friends. That was Rhys in a nutshell. But Lily sees it. Sees the loneliness that haunts him. That he ignores. Everyone always forgets about Lily. About what she sees.

Lily allowed the heaviness of her slightly drunken mind to act as a weight, as her hand pleasingly gripped around the cool steel of the lamp-post and she swung around it with a giggle. Her surroundings becoming a blur, the stars spinning into a blended mesh of abyssal blues and royal purples dotted with silver lines. Once. Twice. Three times, she spun until she finally let go chuckling to herself as she wobbled from side to side. Her hand found the course brickwork of a nearby wall and paused for a moment to stabilize herself. She only felt slightly guilty that she had told no one about her absconding from the party. Lily did what she wanted, and that was that. This was her time and it felt like it would go on forever.

There was a loud crack. It split the air, the silence, like ravenous jaws snapping a dry bone with one, powerful, champ. And then Lily was completely taken by surprise.

Pain split through her shoulder.

"Oo that's new" She chuckled uneasily as her breath caught in her throat and her hand moved from her shoulder and displayed the blood dripping from her fingertips. Lily did not get hurt. Lily did not feel pain. Or at least she didn't think she could; but now agony ached from the wound in her shoulder and she discovered that she did not care for this hurt in the slightest.

With her back against the wall she turned behind her to see a figure standing fifteen feet down the street. They were tall and broad shouldered. Swathed in a mixture of blackened fabrics and body armour. With a flourish of their wrist, the long whip snapped again at the air, glistening at it's tip with a distinct metallic sheen, before retreating back to their grasp.

A distinct fear gripped Lily. She was drunk, not stupid, this hunter had come for her and proven within a matter of seconds that she wasn't as half as invulnerable as she thought she was. Instinct and adrenaline pumped through her body, rapidly beating back much of the alcoholic haze that held her limbs, as her heart raced.

The hunter stomped his foot in a toying manner, causing Lily to jump with a yelp. Snapping her from her fear-clutched paralysis, and she broke out in an all out sprint.

She barrelled down the street as her breath began to burn at her throat, and her heels collided angrily with the concrete. She couldn't hear the sound of anyone following behind her in pursuit, and daring to take the chance; Lily ducked into a nearby alleyway.

Their was a slick griminess to the weathered cobblestones beneath her. They glistened beneath the starlight, and various weeds sprouted where the walls met the ground of the alley. Declaring their defiance to the stone proudly in shoots of green against the blackened grey. Lily darted behind a large rubbish bin, pulling her knees towards her chest as she pushed up as much as possible against the wall and did her best to keep quiet.

All was silent. Painfully so. She strained to hear anything over the pounding of her heartbeat which blotted out most outside noises; the sound of her stammered breathing, slipping through the enclosed fingers she held over her mouth, was the only company as she made herself as small as possible. There was a fleeting thought given to her phone. But that would require rummaging through her bag. Which would make noise. Which was out of the question.

She dared to open her eyes, stuttering a fearful cry as she looked up to the figure that stood before her. Fingers tightening around the leather of the whip menacingly, as he looked down upon her.

"Why are you doing this?" She cried, battled, warred. Anything but this suffocating silence that gripped her by the throat with an anxiety of the horrors that awaited her.

Lily tried in vain to pierce the veil of darkness that shielded the hooded features from view. A terror gripped her there as light seemed to be swallowed whole, like a ravenous maw of the incomprehensible void. Filled with invisible teeth awaiting to rip her apart.

Again silence was all that met her, but the hunter had yet to move. They stood menacingly before her, and she chanced her odds at standing up. Using the wall behind her to push herself upwards as slowly as possible. A quick move could lead to a quicker death, but somehow Lily got the impression that this hunter enjoyed toying with their prey. Perhaps she could buy some time, and hope that someone would come to help.

"M-maybe we could come to some sort of agreement?" Lily offered when a moment of inaction had passed. "Some kind of deal?" It was a long shot. Lily had never offered a deal before, she didn't even know if whatever she could do would work if she was the one asking. But it was worth a chance as the thoughts of her survival began to drastically slim with the passage of time.

Lily shrank back as she could feel the knowing grin leering at her from the darkness, and she never felt so small.

In a burst of desperation: Lily let out a scream, flinging her purse and shoes at the face of her attacker. Scattering an assortment of items into the air, and without another look, twisted on her heels and began to sprint.

Her left leg was yanked out from underneath her, as she collided heavily with the ground, her head rolling off the concrete. She felt the whip relinquish it's hold from her ankle as it snapped like a rearing serpent against the wall to her left. Vision was blurred, shaken. All the shapes melding into one as she rolled onto her back.

Lily regained her focus just as the hunter was raising their arm again for another strike that promised to bite deep. A sickening realisation that they didn't just want to kill Lily. They wanted it to hurt while doing so. The Hunter flung their arm forward and Lily clamped her eyes shut and awaited the pain.

But none came. She creaked her eyes open to see the Hunter had stopped at the apex of their arch. One of the weeds that had previously been growing out of the side of the concrete had shot outwards and held the Hunter at the wrist, like a wire or cable made of vegetation.

That was when she saw Rhys standing some feet behind the hunter. His eyes billowing with a blackened smoke that flashed with emerald embers.

"You will not touch her again." He threatened, before wrenching his arm backwards. The weed followed his actions, lifting the Hunter from the ground as if they weighed nothing, and slamming them against the side wall, dragging them along it's coarse, bricked, length before flinging them outwards and towards the street.

The sprouting crabgrass in the pavement, shot out like the web of a spider, catching site of its next meal. It's tendrils snaking dexterously skyward as they snatched at the Hunters limbs; plucking him from the air before he could touch the ground. The Hunter twisted his body against the offending plant matter, and in one fell swoop had sliced through the foliage. A short-sword had flicked into existence from a hilt he had procured from his belt, and in the same sweeping arc, his free hand gripped at the hand cross-bow to his side, and fired off a wickedly accurate shot.

The Hunter came to a cat-like landing with a small grunt, as Rhys snapped his eyes closed, only to open them a second later and find the small bolt no more than an inch from his right eye. Gripped in the out-stretched arm of Alaric, who held the ammunition in his fist.

As Alaric snapped the bolt with a single flex of his fingers, and tossed it to the side; he couldn't help but note how this Hunter was different from who he had encountered before. They were taller. Broader. Stronger in their stance, as they flourished the sword into a reverse grip and stood to their full height. The strength of muscle evident in their arms as they strained against the slick clothing that hugged the form. It was undeniable that this was another person. Which only darkened Alaric's expression at the realisation that there was more than one.

Their was the sudden crunch of rock and slate, as a hulking mass of fur and muscle growled viciously as it perched on the rooftop above the alleyway. With it's claws cutting into the stone with the ease of a hot knife through butter; it was silhouetted against the night sky. It's fur bristling like a spiky aura, as two glowing orbs, like venomous candle lights in the dark, focused hungrily on the Hunter. It let out a protective snarl that dripped saliva on to the ground below.

This was followed by the slap of rubber soles as Marshal came sprinting up to Rhys is side. Wide eyed and worried, but he stood strong and protective of his friends. He wanted to run to Lily who had now recovered and stood leaning against one of the brick walls, but knew better than to potentially put himself in harms way.

The Hunter was out numbered, though this didn't seem to phase him in the slightest as he stood undeterred by his now, less than favourable, odds.

"Rhys... Crush him." Alaric ordered, tensing the muscles in his legs as he made to leap forward.

Rhys had never used his powers in this manner before, and never in aggression. It was strange. It tickled at his core, and stretched across his shoulders with a strength that wholly consumed him. It felt like a dormant vengeance, awakening from an unknown, deep and forgotten, place. It felt like unvented anger that was not his own. It felt like drawing poison from a wound.

He gave a curt nod, raising his arms from his waist as if lifting a heavy weight and clenched his fists. Expanding his feelings outwards to the scattered plant life around the area, his eyes igniting once more, the foliage hissed at his command. Spiking outwards in agitated tendrils.

In a flurry of movement, the Hunter produced a small orb from his belt and clicked the small red button while fending off the attacking plants with his blade. The small ball screeched loudly with a high pitched noise, Alaric and the wolvish figure on the roof immediately clutched at their ears in agony.

In the confusion, Marshal took his chance to make for Lily; dashing across the gap as he made for her and immediately checking her over. Wincing with worry as he looked at the open wound on her shoulder. She whimpered into his touch, balling her fists into his chest.

"I'm getting blood over your shirt." She chuckled momentarily, before pushing from his chest to step in front of him and watch the carnage. Marshal stood protectively in front of her, much to her chagrin. He was about as useful in a fight as she was, but felt undeniably loved for the gesture.

The conjured vines lunged forward, only to be sliced deftly with a well practised swipe. Even when Rhys sent them forth to attack at all angles, his defence was impenetrable. Like watching a dancer, their movements were fluid, almost hypnotic in their rythm. Like they knew every action to take with total confidence before it happened.

Lily noticed Rhys beginning to slow. His brow furrowed and his jaw tight in concentration as sweat slipped down his temple. The light in his eyes flickering with the stress, as he gestured like a conductor, manipulating the plants to do his bidding. She then looked down to the orb, still emitting it's high-pitched screech, as it had rolled on to the floor. She looked towards her cringing companions, Alaric on his knees and a small drop of blood dripping from his ears, as his face was contorted in anguish. The Wolf on the roof had disappeared from view, but through the chaos: Lily could just about hear its baleful whines. She needed to do something.

Finding some much needed focus, she tugged on Marshal's sleeve briefly to get his attention, before pointing to the orb. They gave each other a knowing nod, and with Rhys having fended off the Hunter a good distance from where he was originally, they sprung forward.

Lily scrambled out into the street, jumping forward and lunging for the orb. Her arm gave a sudden wrench of pain as the wound on her shoulder forked with lightning, but she pushed onwards with Marshal right behind her. As her hand outstretched for the orb, it was knocked away by the impact of a thrown blade. Thankfully, not piercing the skin; whatever was on the end of that whip didn't seem to be on all of his weapons and it did not penetrate her hand, but it was with enough force to knock her hand into the orb, and bat it away, sending it rolling to the side.

Marshal darted for it, now that it was much closer: it too was hurting his ears, but he managed with some fiddling to find the red button and push it again. The sudden silencing falling all too heavily on them all as Alaric recovered immediately. Blinking away the pain.

The Hunter threw something to the ground at his feet, and upon impact: it erupted with a blinding flash of light, brighter than anything they had ever seen and instantly robbing them of their vision, with a heavy ringing. They didn't have to wait to regain their vision to know that he was already gone, and once again; they were left with nothing.

A/N: Updated finally! I'm sorry it took me longer than usual to update. I've been busy.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the action in this one. I'm not the most practised at writing action, especially ones that have abit more of a supernatural feel to it. Let me know what I could do better and as always:
Thanks for reading ^-^