I went down the ladder, stepped back, looked at my work. It was perfect.

I was standing in front of a little blue and black house, warm and cozy. A new house for a new life in a new country. Montreal was much smaller than the place I came from, but I couldn’t be picky. There were enough Asians in that city for me not to look out of place.

Jae. That was the new name I gave myself. Of course, it was just the short version of my other name. But it sounded ‘white’ enough as long as people didn’t see how it was written. Jae Im. Sounded weird, but I had heard weirder stuff around this place. I was now ready to start working again, despite the wound that was having difficulty healing. Both physically and emotionally. I wouldn’t work during the day again. Just at night. I’d live plenty good enough like that. I just… had to avoid people. Humans were food.

I had changed my appearance, as well. Pure black hair and icy blue eyes? It wasn’t like I could change my eyes all that much, but I had managed to turn one of them to a fiery color. It was usually orange-colored, red when I would be angry, brown when I was sad, and golden when I was happy. The other one still had the same appearance as before. I could pretend those were contact lenses. As for my hair, it was now a dark blonde, close to brown, a bit golden, a bit copper, a bit stuck between several different colors. I couldn’t put a name on the color, but I liked it. Shadow spirits were known to usually have dark hair, so this was fine. I could say I had dyed it, except that it wasn’t really the case. Still. I had also changed my voice just to make sure I wouldn’t be recognized by it. I didn’t have to bother with the rest; all DNA was unreadable now that the team of scientists was down.

Sighing, I went to my bedroom, opening a drawer. It was there. Folded neatly, hidden with the rest of my clothes; my hunting outfit. It didn’t look all that different from normal clothes, but I had still hidden it. My collection of blades had burned with the rest of my house when I had left after making sure they would be able to find nothing about me, except for my Redblades. My Redblades, and the one that had caused the injury on my shoulder. It was with the other two, hidden away. I hadn’t used them, I hadn’t used anything ever since that day. I hadn’t hunted ever since that day. We were in summer now; I had been feeding on store meat for six months. I couldn’t wait to hunt again. I was just hoping I hadn’t lost my touch. I had to go back to being myself. Back to being the best hunter of the Brotherhood.

Earlier that day, I had received a letter. A prey. The bosses of the Brotherhood knew I was ready to hunt again. I put my outfit on my bed, touching the cloth, thoughtful, before I turned, grabbing my Redblades, playing with them a little, making them sing before I sheathed them. I was ready.

I dressed and headed out. It wasn’t dark yet, but the letter was informing me that the prey always went through a small back street to go back home. It was the perfect place to hunt. So I went there and I waited.

All I’ll say about the hunt is that the meat had never tasted so good and the hawk outline engraved in the bone had never felt so alive. I was back. Black Hawk was back.