Deep Hunger

A cool mist floated just above the water's gently rippling surface, giving a somewhat mystic feeling in the dark night. The waters were calm for the most part, all except for the boat carrying four young college students, all of them talking loudly, drinking beer, and having a great time out on the lake. One of the two men in the group raised his bottle of Budweiser up to his mouth and took a swig of it's bitter contents before looking at the two girls, "See Jayden, I told you you'd have a great time...Some days you just have to relax, and just...let go."

All the while the guy sitting next to the pep talker just lazily bobbed his head up and down in agreement, his face signaling how hammered he was just then. The girls took notice of this immediately, but didn't say a word as they smiled at the two rather cute looking boys. The girl on the right, a small brunette with a pair of tortoise shell glasses, replied, "Yeah, you're right Allen. This place is just so...calming at night."

The other girl, a much darker looking lass who's black hair and gothic attire seemed to match her snarky attitude as she stated, "Yeah, to bad Jerry over here had to go and ruin the atmosphere by getting plastered off of three drinks."

"Oi! I c'n still...fo...fokus!" Jerry replied, immediately closing his mouth as he tasted his lunch at the back of his throat. Recklessly, Jerry whipped around and tried to throw up overboard, but his shoulder collided with Allen's chest, sending the latter of the two falling into the lake. The two girls hurried over to the other side of the boat, both wondering if Allen was okay. A few moments passed, with nothing rising to the surface, and just as the girls looked to each other to see what to do, a figure breached the surface, grabbing onto the side of the boat and rocking it gently.

"BOO! Hahaha!" Allen shouted, chuckling to himself as his hands grasped the side of the boat, the young man shimying his way up the side to try and get back on.

Jayden fumed, and angrily retorted, "Jeez Allen, you're such a -"

Before Jayden could finish her sentence, a hand grabbed the top of Allen's head, and with only a short cry from the man, he was pulled overboard, his body disappearing into the depths of the lake. The two girls cried out, and backed away from the edge, their eyes wide as they wondered just what it was that dragged Allen back down. Jayden, slowly mustering her courage, crawled to Allen's side, and let out an audible scream as she saw his bloodied body floating there motionless.

~~~~

James looked over to his partner, sleeping shotgun with his head against the right windshield, the trees of Missouri speeding past the duo as they drove down the road. James smirked as he quietly turned up the volume on the radio, and then popped in one of his mix CD's, a smirk on his face as Coheed and Cambria's The Suffering blasted out of the speakers.

"Rise and shine Chase!" James shouted, talking over the music while looking out to the road, making sure that his little stunt wouldn't cause them to wreck. Still, it didn't mean he couldn't tap his hands on the steering wheel to the beat of the song.

"Ah!" Chase jumped at the blasting sound from the radio. He almost made an attempt to draw a gun and was completely caught off guard by the loud noise. He turned to James at gave him an annoyed look. "Jesus James, do you want me to shoot you by accident?" Chase said and scratched his stubbly chin. He sighed and pulled the hair tie out that was keeping his hair in a ponytail and ran his fingers through it. "What the hell was that for anyways?" He asked while looking out the window. The Missouri scenery wasn't the most pleasant thing for Chase. He considered what could possibly be lurking lurking in the trees.

"Missouri of all places. Not my favorite place, but all right." Chase said and pulled his hair back into a low ponytail after smoothing it out again.

"It's not my fault you're so tense all the time. You've gotta lighten up a little bit. Besides, we're almost at the lake now. I found a newspaper article saying that some random frat boy got pulled down into the lake where he, get this, had his eyes, nails, and teeth removed from his body. Nobody knows what did it, and it didn't get picked up on the Police sonars. Sounds like our kind of gig, doesn't it?" James said, still keeping his eyes on the road as he turned the music down to a more comfortable volume.

"Welcome to Lake of the Ozarks...Your guess is as good as mine on what an Ozark is though. I'm gonna need you up and alert before we start investigating. The last thing anyone is going to believe is an FBI agent who looks like they just got out of bed." James stated, personally overjoyed at the prospect of using the good old FBI licenses again. Not that they were real or anything, but it was a ruse that James seemed to enjoy a lot.

Chase sighed and rubbed his shoulder and he stretched slightly. His bones cracked in the process, which he didn't seem to mind. "Yeah sure, you get to play 'house' and be an FBI agent and I'll probably be the one diving I'm betting." Chase replied while glancing ahead at the scenery. He idly tapped his foot to the song as he caught onto the beat.

"They didn't have their nails, eyes, and teeth? That's pretty specific... Anything else missing? No claw marks or bite marks? Why the hell would you take those thing?" Chase asked, clearly unable to think of anything that had a taste for teeth of all things. He tapped the side of the door with his hand. "What's the first thing on our list anyways? I'm thinking asking around of course. Hopefully you avoid talking to any pretty ladies for too long." He teased lightly.

James shook his head, "No no no, you see, we need to see the autopsy for that kind of detailed information. And that, my friend, is why we're heading to the county morgue first. After that we question whoever was around to see it, and then, once we have enough clues, we research it for lord knows how long. You know, the usual."

Sure, when James said it, it sounded monotonous, but really that was only half of the job, and most of the time it was the more interesting of the two halves. As for the actual hunt itself, well, that was obviously the more exhilarating part of the job.

Of course, that was only a very basic overlook of being a Hunter, there was so much more too it than just that, but James just wanted to focus on his driving for the moment.

"So, what're you gonna do while I'm off at the morgue?"

Chase pushed a strand of hair out of his face and adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, yeah. You, my friend, can handle the dead bodies and I will handle talking to people. Specifically, the ladies of course." He said with a joking grin. "I'd like to know why this is happening now, just conveniently on this day. Or if it has happened before. I'm pretty sure this isn't the Ness monster if you catch my drift. If people have seen things before or not."

There was a slight bump in the road, although Chase thought nothing of it as he felt the car jump slightly from the impact. "Besides, I'm sure I'd make a much more charming interviewer than you." He said while rubbing his chin. He was obviously amused at his comment. "You gonna call if you find something?"

"I swear, all you talk about is women, don't you have any other hobbies?" James replied, smirking a little as they finally entered the town of Ozark Missouri. At least, that's what James assumed was the towns name. The homes looked very quaint, each one a two story home, with or without basement, some made of brick and some made of drywall. Not that James particularly cared much, as they would be leaving in a couple of days anyways.

He parked in front of a small fast food joint, and motioned for Chase to get out, "Best place to look around for those kids during this time of day. I'm sure one of them works here, it's the only fast food place we've seen for miles. And don't worry, I'll call you if I find anything."

Of course, this was entirely speculation on James' part, and there was no guarantee that any of the witnesses would be even inside the fast food restaurant, but Chase was going to be looking all over town anyways, so he might as well start here.