Jacob furrowed his brow, studying the odd mother and daughter pair. Their story sounded legit, between the description of Kane and his actions he had little doubt these witches had met the man. "Its okay Nina you can put the rifle down."
Sylvia and Tanya turned, gasping as they saw Nina Moreland leveling a rifle at them. "Where did she come from," Sylvia exclaimed.
"Was awfully quiet out here Jacob," Nina said softly, her rifle still trained on the pair. "Needed to make sure everything was okay and don't worry about the kids. They're asleep and Daphnes watching them."
"Do you greet all your guests like this," Tanya asked.
"Nina its alright," Jacob said softly. "These two showed up looking for help. Looks like Ezekiel Kane has finally surfaced."
A concerned look crossed Nina Morelands face, the retired hunters rifle lowering as she looked to her husband. "Kane," she exclaimed. "I thought he was dead? We haven't seen him in what? Twenty? Twenty five years."
"Dad you know this guy," Connor asked. Jacob nodded, taking a deep breath as he now told the history of Ezekiel Kane and demon hunters.
Demons were as old as time itself. When mankind first crawled out of their caves, demons were waiting. A select few humans were then chosen. This was how demon hunters first came into being.
At first demon hunting families were disorganized. Each family from every continent had their own ways of dealing with the supernatural. Mysticism, technology, brute strength and skill were taught generation to generation. Knowledge between hunting families wasn't shared, in the end it meant hunters faced deadlier threats than need be. Hundreds of hunters died battling the supernatural needlessly. It wasn't until demon hunters were organized under the banner of the church that they began to teach their full potential.
"So all demon hunters are Catholic," Nat asked.
"No," Jacob replied. "But in Medieval times the church had the most resources. That secret library in Vatican City? It holds the collective knowledge of demon hunting families around the world. You see it doesn't matter what religion someone is. A holy symbol is a holy symbol. Someone back in the day realized that the devil don't care who you pray too. He wants souls and he'll do whatever it takes to get it."
"So hunters work together to takedown any supernatural threat," Rei stated.
"Exactly," Jacob answered. "Their are hunting families all over the world. You got the Belmont and Bloodstone families in Europe. Al-Sadr family in the Middle East. The Chang and Hakato families in Asia. Even a few families here in North and South America. Fact is you have probably close to 500 families who generation after generation have dedicated their lives to protecting humanity from supernatural evils."
"So where does this Ezekiel Kane fit in," Amara asked. Jacob sighed, the frown forming on the elder hunters face as he told the story of the Kane family.
The Kane family had been one of the most well respected families in the America's for generations. Jacob now explained how centuries ago the Morelands and Kanes worked closely. They were both seen as the strongest and most well respected families in the Western hemisphere. "My grandfather Malcolm often collaborated with the Kanes," he said.
"So what happened," Connor asked.
Jacob now turned to Nina, the woman shuddering at a memory she had been trying to forget. "It was shortly after we took over for his father," Nina said softly. "Your father and I were young. I was, what? 23 or 24 while he was a couple years older. He had been training his whole life for this. Naturally I wanted to go as well. Nova had retired and Spark, she hadn't come to us yet."
"And its a good thing too," Jacob added. "Ezekiel was working with us. The job we had was too big for just one hunter. Naturally the church assigned the two most prestigious families. Ezekiel was my age and he had already developed an impressive reputation."
"More like brutal," Nina grumbled. "I did some checking up on him. Kane was a stone cold killer. The church had already reprimanded him several times for his actions."
"Hunters may have different faiths but we adhere to the same guidelines," Jacob added. "If a supernatural entity hasn't harmed humanity they're left alone. Hunters aren't butchers, we're protectors. That's why the Faye are seen as allies, its why we try to cure werewolves, and why ghosts are given a blessing instead of being destroyed outright."
"So kinda like a supernatural cop," Miles asked. Jacob smirked, nodding in agreement.
"Anyway we were asked to help out a village of werewolves in the Dakotas," Jacob continued. "The head of that family was looking to cure his people of lycanthropy. Only problem was they happened to be in the middle of a turf war with a couple of vampires and a family of skinwalkers." Nat now began to squirm in her seat, already dreading the outcome of the pair of vampires.
"Sorry Natalia," Jacob said softly. "But save you, your mother, and Duke I've never met a vampire that hadn't hurt someone."
"No, no, its okay," Nat stammered. "Please go on." Jacob nodded, giving the group a stiff nod as he continued.
Arriving at the small town, Jacob and Nina realized they would need to secure the area before they could cure the werewolves. The skinwalkers and vampires were dangerous, Nina and Jacob setting off to dispose of them while Kane watched over the town. After a grueling few days, the Morelands had taken care of the werewolves enemies and returned only to be horrified by what they saw.
"Kane had slaughtered the whole town," Jacob said softly. "Men, women, children, it didn't matter he killed everybody."
"And not just murdered," Nina added. "Tortured. We found mutilated bodies everywhere."
Jacob now explained how they feared at first that Kane himself had been killed. As they investigated the town, they eventually found him and learned the truth.
"Turns out the werewolves had a few allies themselves," Jacob grumbled. "We found him inside the church, torturing a shaman and her fairy companion."
"He had used everything that the hunters had gathered over the centuries to immobilize them," Nina started. "When we entered the church we saw him carving the wings off the fairy after beheading the shaman." Spark gasped, the fairy turned human only imagining what horrors that doomed fairy had gone through.
"Naturally we took Kane down," Jacob stated. "The fight wasn't easy. He nearly killed me and your mother but in the end we were able to stop him."
"After that we took him before the church elders," Nina sighed. "Kane had crossed a line. He had brutalized innocents for simply being different from humanity. The family was excommunicated, their lands and property seized."
"Did Kane end up in jail," Miranda asked.
"No," Jacob replied bitterly. "Regrettably their were members on the council who believed excommunication was in itself a death sentence. They believed the supernatural would take their revenge and eliminate the problem for them. Kane decided then and there to live off the grid. I hadn't even heard his name in decades."
"Until now."
Jacob nodded, taking a deep breath as he now looked upon the group. "If Kane is on his way we're going to have to get ready," he said. "None of us are going to be safe once he gets here."