บท 18: Chapter 18: Introduction

"We accept you into our Task Force," Grace said as she clasped her hands together. Caspian felt relieved that he could finally do something about the various murders that had happened recently, including his own father's.

But suddenly, Grace added, "However, only as a reserved member until your suspension is over. During that time, I won't allow you to slack off, so you will be trained by the various instructors here so that you can control your supernatural abilities."

Caspian nodded as he heard all of that. Of course, he should have a certain qualification before entering such a team. After all, he was just newly awakened as a supernatural and probably wouldn't be able to beat the weakest member of the task force.

"Well, let's set that aside for now. First, let me introduce you to all the main members of the unit," Grace said as she looked at her subordinates. She then said, while gesturing at her subordinates, "There are more on their way, but these are the strongest members of my unit."

"I see; I will introduce myself first. I am Caspian Ashwood, Captain Grace's son," Caspian approached them and extended his arm while slightly bowing his head. The four that were sitting on the sofa in front of Caspian nodded as they started to introduce themselves one by one.

"Hello~, I'm Natalie Porter, Special Agent 4 of the Unit Alpha Task Force your mom leads. It's nice to meet you, Caspian," A woman with medium-length scarlet hair said as she shook Caspian's hand, slightly causing her low-profile body to shake. "Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm a vampire like your mother."

However, her scarlet hair wasn't the unique thing about her, but her scarlet eyes, which seemed to read everything, were staring at Caspian, making him feel somewhat bare. Caspian simply nodded his head as another spoke.

"Lucia Belmont, werewolf," A dark-skinned woman with brown hair said bluntly. Her sharp amber-colored eyes gazed at Caspian. Caspian felt intimidated even though he was slightly taller than she was.

"Hello, Lucia," Caspian said as he extended his hand, but Lucia simply ignored it. She then grabbed a cigarette from her pocket, lit it before Caspian, and blew smoke. Caspian smiled awkwardly at this scene as Grace sighed ruefully.

Next, a woman with medium-length blond hair spoke as her red eyes stared at Caspian in a coquettish way, "Hello, cutie~, I mean, Caspian. I'm Special Agent 6 of the Unit Alpha Task Force, Irene Beaufort. I'm a dhampir like you~ though I am an awakened dhampir. It's really nice to meet you~."

Irene said as she kissed Caspian's cheek instead of shaking his hand. Caspian was surprised but thinking that it might be custom, so he simply kissed Irene's cheek back, causing her to giggle slightly.

Abby, on the sidelines, simply smiled as she knew it was a custom to Irene, but she was somewhat annoyed as she thought, 'Irene… a custom isn't something you can put any malicious thought into….'

Grace, who saw Abby's expression, grinned as she felt like laughing, but she looked at Irene with a solemn face, "Settle down, Irene. I thought I already told you that the custom here is to shake hands."

Irene acted all cute as she slightly knocked her forehead while saying, "My bad, I forgot~ By the way, detective, I bet we'll be having a good time working together~."

Caspian smiled wryly at that as the last person looked at him with an expressionless face. The person was a woman with short navy blue hair. Her midnight blue eyes seemed as deep as the ocean. As Caspian gazed at her, he instantly knew she was unreadable and mysterious.

As Caspian scanned her, he saw something on her arm, probably a tattoo that extended up to her shoulder. It was a random pattern, but Caspian couldn't help but feel the ominous aura that exuded from it.

"I am Naida Xur'daal, a demon. I'm Special Agent 3 of the Unit Alpha Task Force," she grabbed Caspian's hand and shook it, slightly twisting Caspian's face. She was incredibly strong.

Just as he took into mind their names, something clicked in Caspian's mind. "Wait… your voices are somewhat… familiar...."

"Hehe, did he—" Irene said with laughter, but she was cut off by Natalie, who said, "Ah, never mind that. I think the captain still has something to say."

"Thank you, Nat. Lastly, although you already know each other, how about you introduce yourself again, Abby?" Grace looked at Abby and requested.

Abby simply nodded her head as she stood up and said, "Hello, Caspian. I'm Abigail Quinn, or as you've already known, Abby, and I'm the Special Agent 1 of the Unit Alpha Task Force."

Caspian and Abby couldn't help but smile as they shook each other's hands.

"Good, let's wrap things up since we don't have all day. Caspian, Abby will be your personal guard until next month. Abby, lead him to the training room; he needs to proceed to training immediately," Grace said as she looked at both Caspian and Abby.

"Huh? But I just got out of the med—" Caspian spoke but was cut off by Grace as she replied, "You're a supernatural; you're already as good as new."

Caspian just smiled wryly as he looked at Abby. Abby nodded her head as she stood up, beckoning Caspian to follow her. But before they could leave the room, the door suddenly blasted open.

"What's going on here, having a party?" A man entered the room as he wiped his sunglasses while carrying a huge sniper rifle wrapped in something that looked like lizard skin behind his back.

He then looked at Caspian and lightly rubbed his well-defined beard. As if a light bulb clicked in his mind, he hit his palm with his hand as he said, "You must be Grace's son, Caspian! Oho, I can already see the power on you, lad."

He then took his sunglasses off as he extended his arm while saying, "Let me introduce myself first; I'm Sean Ackerman. You're a mighty fine lad!"

He then looked at Grace while saying with a grin, "Oi, cap, want me to train him? I already know he'll be as powerful as my rifle right here."

Grace sighed as she looked at Sean. She then said, "Caspian, this is the obnoxious Special Agent 2 of the Alpha Task Force. He'll be managing your aim training from now on."

"Noice! Okay, Caspy-boy, let's get on with it!" Sean laughed loudly while pulling Caspain and Abby out. Grace could only smile wryly at the scene.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sean pulled Caspian and Abby forcefully, and they soon arrived at the range. With a grin, Sean pulled them over and said, "Welcome to my home ground!"

Suddenly, an elderly person sitting on the counter spoke, "You know damn well this ain't your home, Sean. You only got here, and you're already visiting the range instead of your wife?"

Sean couldn't help but scratch his head as he heard that. Abby and Caspian, who listened to the conversation, laughed.

After a moment, Abby and Caspian calmed themselves as Abby said, "Come on, Sean. Did you really forget to see Ruth?"

"I… well…." Sean stuttered with an embarrassed face.

"Oh, you're Ruth's husband?" Caspian couldn't help but ask. He then remembered the conversation Grace had with Ruth, making him laugh as he added, "Oh man, you're gonna be in big trouble."

Suddenly, they heard footsteps running toward them. As Caspian turned around, he saw Ruth rushing toward Sean as she shouted, "Sean! You bastard, why do you always go to the range first!"

Caspian pulled Abby to the side with a cough and let Ruth pass. Ruth then ruthlessly punched Sean's face, but he raised his thumbs up for some reason. Caspian managed to catch a glimpse of Sean's face. He looked like… he was enjoying it? Caspian was absolutely disgusted.

Afterward, Ruth patted her hands clean as she looked at Caspian, saying, "Oh, hello, Caspian. I'm sorry for that; it's just my husband never remembers to come home first."

"It's no problem, Ruth," Caspian said with a smile. Abby, however, compared to the calm Caspian, was roaring with laughter. Caspian couldn't help but ask, "Hey, why are you laughing so hard?"

"Oh, nothing. This just happens every time he comes back from a mission. I know very well that Sean is doing this deliberately," Abby wiped the tears that started flowing out of her eyes. She then whispered, "Everyone knows he's a masochist."

"Well, you still have some business with Sean, right? I'll leave him to ya. Just bring him to me afterward. After all, even if he's such a forgetful prick, I still love him to death," Ruth left with a wave.

"Oh, I love her," Sean said as he stood up while patting all the dust on his clothes. Caspian couldn't help but look at him weirdly, but he thought, 'Well, to each their own, I guess.'

"Well, know that that's over with. Let's head on to business! Oh, Abby, you can come with him if you want," Sean said.

"Nah, I have some things to do. Good luck, Caspian," Abby waved goodbye while Sean led Caspian to the armory.

"Voila, look at all these beautiful weapons. *Cough* Let me introduce myself again. I'm Sean Ackerman, the firearms and combat expert within our unit. Today I'll be teaching you how to be the best at wielding guns!"

"Um… aren't guns useless against supernaturals?" Caspian asked as when he fought those minions, no matter how many bullets they used, they still rose back up.

"You mean regular firearms. But the guns here are different. After all, they've been blessed by a saint!" Sean exclaimed.

"Once a weapon has been blessed by a saint, it can inflict severe damage to supernaturals as they can slow the healing factor of the supernatural down to the healing factor of a human."

"But what about the bullets? Do they get blessed too?" Caspian asked.

"Of course, otherwise only the gun would be capable of killing supernaturals," Sean laughed.

"Damn, the saintess must be busy as hell then," Caspian said as he thought about it. Sean simply nodded his head as he replied, "That's true, but we have two saints within this branch of the Bureau, so one wouldn't die of exhaustion."

"We're getting side-tracked here. Let's make you the best of the best!" Sean exclaimed.

Caspian smiled wryly at the claim that Sean could turn someone into the best shooter. Seeing his expression, Sean said, "What, you don't believe me? Guess who taught Abby how to use a gun?"

Hearing this, Caspian's eyes perked. Sean laughed as he said, "Hahaha! That's the expression that I like! Enthusiastic! Now grab any gun, and let's get started."

Caspian saw the sheer amount of guns stored here to be amazing. Sean saw his amazement and smiled wryly, "Unfortunately, these are all unblessed weapons… the saint in charge of blessing weapons… isn't particularly hard-working…. Never mind that, let's go!"

Caspian was confused, but he nodded, picked up an automatic rifle; an M4A1; and followed Sean as he led him to a special private training ground. "Welcome to the training arena! A custom 1km wide arena specifically designed for training supernaturals."

"Remember, Caspian. I won't go easy on you."