When Alison opened her eyes, she was in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask on, her right arm bandaged from her shoulder down to her finger tips, while both of her legs were bandaged from her thighs down.
At first she was confused, then everything came back to her when she turned her head and saw Ryan asleep in a chair beside her bed, his chin resting against his chest as it slowly rose and fell, and the sight of him brought her a sence of relief and safety.
Her whole body ached from her injuries and being flung against a concert wall, but it was better than being dead, and soon a nurse came in to check on her, at which point Ryan woke up and was clearly relieved to see her awake though she was still pretty pale from blood loss.
"You have fourth degree burns on your arm, hand, and legs, a couple fractures from impacting the wall, and your shoulder is almost completely shredded", the nurse informed her,"However your healing rather quickly, and from what we can tell you'll be back on your feet within a month. God must REALLY like you".
With that the nurse left them alone, and at first there was silence, until she finally spoke to Ryan saying,"Thank you for saving me".
Ryan smiled a little as he replied,"I couldn't just let them take you".
"Because of what I know".
"Because your important to me Alison...I can't really explain why, but I feel connected to you somehow, and the thought of you in the hands of Lord Varsairious...I just couldn't let it happen".
She smiled, her cheeks staining a deep red, and it was after a second that Ryan walked over and gently kissed her lips, sending a jolt of electricity through her, and when he went to pull away she gently placed her good hand on the back of his neck and held him there, prolonging the kiss until finally they had to breathe, but he stayed close, is forehead resting against hers as she smiled up at him as he blushed slightly.
"Um, Brandon will be in to talk with you soon", he said while carefully moving her hand,"I got paperwork to handle. I'll be back to check in on you later".
"Okay, I'll see you then", she replied, not wanting him to go but fully understanding that her had to, and with that he was gone, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and for the rest of the day she wouldn't stop smiling.

"THAT BITCH!", Lord Varsairious roared after hearing how Alison had killed Drake, his furry so intense he ripped a Sub clean in half, and unfortunately didn't care to destroy it's heart, so the poor creature would be in agony for months until it's lower half regenerated.
"I'm sorry Lord Varsairious, we've failed you...", one of his other Lieutenants said as they kneeled before him, not daring to look him in the eye.
"No, Drake failed", the vampire lord snarled as he took a deep breath and sat on his throne of human skulls,"but you won't, because I'm going to lead the next attack".
"Understood my Lord, where are we attacking next?"
"The Den".
The Lieutenant's eyes flew wide but he didn't dare to question the order, lest he took be brutally punished.
"Summon all the creatures under my authority, we set out the moment we are at full strength".
For the next month, all the covens under his control, twenty-five-hundred vampires, would gather in the bowls of Mount Saint Helens, along with over three-thousand Skinwalkers, twenty trolls, five-hundred wendigos, and around six hundred rouge werewolves.
This was the final push to claim what was his....

Ryan was in the weight room when Brandon came to see him.
Brandon was infact the oldest of the two and an accomplished Hunter , however Ryan had always been the bigger one. Where Brandon was more atheticly built with a thin but muscular figure, Ryan was more akin to a heavy weight boxer with the strength to match, and this was made clear by him doing power cleans with two fourty-five pound weights on either side of the Olympic bar.
Brandon smiled as he watched his brother a moment, the same sense of pride filling him that always did seeing his younger brother and how far he'd come in life, until finally Ryan finished and turned to face him.
"Good work out?", Brandon asked as Ryan sat down on the bench and drank some water.
Ryan nodded saying,"Yeah. Finally had some free time so I figured I'd get a workout".
"Nice. So, we have a problem".
Ryan sighed heavily,"What now?"
"Alison's intell was solid, we found all of Lord Varsairious's lairs, but they were abandoned".
"What?", Ryan replied in disbelief.
"Yeah. I don't think she warned him or anything, I think he figured we'd be coming since we had her, and jumped ship".
"Fuck", Ryan sighed,"and your sure we've checked EVERYWHERE?".
"Every location she'd given us, and all test showed she was telling the truth".
"So what now?"
"Well, we'll continue as we always have, and Alison will join your unit along with Diana and Francis. We'll keep an eye on Varsairious's lairs, and when we have the chance, we'll kill him".
Ryan nodded, not super happy that the mission had failed, but happy his unit was being brought back up to five individuals, and especially happy that two of his closest friends were starting a new life together somewhere far from the dangerous life of a Hunter and were about to bring his Goddaughter into the world.
Ryan was about to say something else when the emergency alarm began to blare, so Ryan began to rapidly dress before bolting for the armory.

Alison was just finishing up her Marksmen training when the alarm sounded, so she bolted for the armory, following the flow of Hunters before arriving at the large armory and getting outfitted with a basic loadout: an M1A4 Carbine, a Glock 17 9mm (both loaded with silver rounds), a eleven inch combat knife, a bullet proof and stab resistant vest loaded down with six extra magazines for the Carbine, four UV grenades, four thermite grenades, and a utility belt holding three extra magazines for her pistol.
She found Ryan and the rest of the unit, all with custom gear, as everyone formed into several battalions, each one consisting of at least two hundred Hunters each, and that's not counting the personnel maning the tanks and armored vehicles.
There was a lot of noise as the automated defenses engaged whatever group was attacking them, however the noises got closer and she began to hear the unmistakable sound of trolls roaring accompanied by wolf howls and vampire screeches.
The noise cut out, then suddenly there was a loud thud something massive slammed against the large blast doors, then again and again, causing the doors to begin bending inwards, and soon a gap formed where the doors met, and they could see the trolls hammering at the door with giant clubs made of metal while a host of various cryptids eagerly waited for the chance to get inside, and Alison felt a knot of fear building inside of her.
"Just stay close", Ryan said as he cocked his semi-automatic 45-70 rifle,"remember your training".
"And if we die?", Diana asked nervously.
"We die together, as brothers and sisters united against darkness".
Another bang, the gap widened, then another and the first creatures squeezed through, Skinwalkers and wendigos, but they didn't got far as all soldiers in the front opened fire along with the mounted fifty caliber machine guns loaded with explosive rounds. Next came the vamps, howling and shrieking for blood as they were followed by the werewolves and finally the gap was big enough for the trolls to get through and that's when the tanks opened up, large rounds pounding them relentlessly.
Everyone had swapped to melee weapons and engaged the creatures hand to hand save for the units tasked with guarding the tanks and armored vehicles, meanwhile blood and ash filled the air, and Alison used a tomahawk she'd found in tandem with her knife, hacking and slashing at every creature that crossed her path, until she was blind sided by something, and before she knew it she was pinned against the wall and staring into the blood red eyes of Lord Varsairious himself, a cruel smile on his face revealing the two rows of shark like teeth.
"Hello darling", he sneered as he gripped her throat so tightly she thought she'd pass out,"time to embrace destiny".
He then opened his mouth impossibly wide like a snake, but then there was a loud boom as his lower jaw exploded and he let go, realing back in shock as Alison fell to ground, sucking in deep breaths of air as she looked up and saw Ryan holding a .500 Magnum, and watched as he fired again and again until the gun clicked empty, but she took the chance to pick up the tomahawk and swing it at Varsairious's head, but he caught it and slammed a fist into her chest that sent her flying into the wall. Ryan charged forward and lashed out with his sword, but Varsairious dodged each attempted before kicking the blade out of his hand and slashed him across the face in a downward arch and then kicked him away, only for Brandon to charge in and slam a knife into his back, but this only inraged the vampire lord more as he spun around and swiped at his throat, blood immediately sprayed from his mouth and the wound as he fell to the ground.
Ryan roared in rage , and that's when something truly astonishing happened.
Ryan's eyes began to glow a bright blue, then his shirt and vest burned away, revealing that his tattoos were also glowing, and his body began to swell, growing to such a size even his pants stretched and strained to contain him while his boots had completely melted away, and then he charged, his speed so great that even the vampire lord couldn't stop the blow that sent him flying into a ruined tank with so much force he went right through it until hitting a wall.
Ryan then charged, covering the ground in a millisecond, and proceeded to engage in a brutal fist fight with the now terrified vampire, trading blows that shook the ground as Sarah helped Alison to her feet.
"What happened?", Alison asked in shock.
"Blessing of the Arce Angel Michelle. Makes him the strongest creature to walk the earth".
"That's what the tattoos are for", Francis stated as he joined them, handing Alison Ryan's sword,"he has this handled. let's finish these assholes off".
Alison nodded, and as one they launched back into the fight.

Ryan was beyond furious.
The blessing Michelle had given him made him impossibly strong, and soon he was literally pummeling Lord Varsairious into the ground, all his rage giving him even more strength as he gripped the vampire by himself torso and despite the brutal blows the creature threw hurled him upwards through the hanger ceiling and into the church above and followed close behind him.
As soon as he landed on the ground, he'd been smacked with a large wooden beam, sending him into a massive concrete piler, and when he tried to stand he was struck again, this time in a downward arch, but before the third hit could land he threw an uppercut that easily broke the beam in half, caught the end next to him and launched it into the vampire, sending him flying into a mound of bricks and wood with a ground shaking thud.
The vampire staggered to his feet and charged, and Ryan countered with a round house kick, a loud crack filling the air as the vampire went flying around smashed into a pillar, and before he could recover Ryan was on him, landing blow after blow on his face until it was a pulpy mess, then he gripped him by the throat and plunged his hand into his chest, wrapping his large hand around his heart, and crushed it.
The was a sudden explosion as impossibly large flames erupted from the body and launched Ryan into a pile of rubble, and as the flames continued raging his tattoos began to dim as his body shrank back to his normal form as the sense of power he'd felt was slowly replaced with a tiredness unlike anything before.
The building was now a raging inferno, and as his eyes began to drop, Ryan smiled as he looked at the pile of ash that had been Varsairious saying,"Dark Lord my ass"....

Three months later, Alison stood in her dress uniform, her eyes locked on a wall of obsidian that had the names and rank of every Hunter who'd ever died along with their unit carved into it, filled in with white paint, and in the third row, the tenth from the top, was the name and title "Lieutenant Ryan Hanley, Leader of unit 001".
She smiled as tears filled her eyes, thinking of the man she'd loved, who'd saved her, and died to defend her, and to save all of humanity.
"Alison", came Austin's voice as he walked up,"it's time".
They walked towards the ceremony hall, passing by a large statue of the first Hunters,
and we're joined by Any who now had a large belly.
"You okay?", Austin asked as they walked.
"I still keep expecting to see him", she replied, holding back tears.
"He was a good man", Austin stated solomly,"and my best friend".
They all stopped outside the door to the hall, looking at each other, then embraced each other before entering, and during the ceremony, Alison received a silver star in Ryans place, and a bronze star for herself, along with a Gold Cross in Brandon's place, the highest award a Hunter can receive.
As the ceremony wrapped up, there was a twenty-one gun solute for the dead, and as they stood at attention, Alison smiled, as she knew she was now part of something bigger, an ongoing war to protect humanity at large, and it was all thanks to Ryan.
© Hades582