Fated to the Huntress

Chapter 5

As expected, Xander did not let go of his anger the entire way back to the Lodge. At first he tried to pull her into arguing with him, but quickly discovered that her mind was far away. Eventually, he settled on cursing and muttering at her under his breath, while he fiddled with the fang that lay in his pocket. He had gotten the largest of the three possible fangs tonight, but she still had two over his one.

Vera couldn’t care less about his bitter expression. Her mind was filled with Silver Eyes. He had been so dark he blended with the shadows around him, but those eyes had pierced her and embedded themselves into her consciousness. There was no doubt in her mind that he was a werewolf, but for once she didn’t want to hunt.

She had met a couple of pack wolves before, when there had been talk of an actual treaty being created between Hunters and Supernaturals. Even though the treaty had failed, she spent as much time as she could with the Werewolves, especially. She had been skeptical at first, but she soon discovered that pack wolves were nothing like their rogue counterparts, and she was fascinated by their dynamics. By the time she left, she felt good in her heart about the packs never being a problem to humans, and hoped she would never have an issue with them.

She knew rogues' eyes changed, but she had still never seen anyone with eyes like pure silver. She could assume Silver Eyes must be a pack wolf, maybe passing by when he had smelled rogues and come to investigate. The thought she might not see him again made her heart grow tight, but she thought it must be because she was fantasizing about his eyes and nothing more. Still, she wondered if he had the same eyes in human form, and what he looked like.

As the image of a tall, dark-haired, muscular man entered her mind’s eye she shook her head to dispel it. It didn’t matter what he looked like, because she would never see him again, and even if she did, he was a Werewolf and she was a Hunter. Even if he wasn’t a rogue, she had never heard of a human and Supernatural courting, and the thought that they could have seemed ridiculous.

Just as she arrived at that conclusion, she and Xander were stepping into the courtyard, where a small group had already gathered for breakfast. It wasn’t until then she realized they had taken the entire night, and suddenly she felt very tired. She slumped to the nearest table and folded her arms to make a pillow for herself. Maybe if she asked nicely, Brent would let her out of training for today since she’d pulled an all-nighter.

On the next bench, Xander was recounting the night's events to whoever was around, putting clear emphasis that Vera had stolen one of his trophies, but that he still had the largest one. Vera rolled her eyes and kept quiet. In the end, it wasn’t about who took out the biggest threat, quantity mattered. Even the smallest rogues were a danger to regular humans, and with the steady growth in their numbers lately, it was important to wipe out as many as possible.

“I suppose I could be nice and just let her have this one. I’ll beat her in the end, anyway, since I’m obviously better for the Lodge.” Xander sneered behind her. Brent happened to be walking by and heard him, which made him come over to Vera’s side. She looked up at him with a small smirk and pulled out the two fangs in her pocket to show him. He glanced back at Xander, but she held up a finger to indicate he had only gotten one fang. Brent only smirked and patted her shoulder roughly.

They both drowned Xander out as Lottie and Mira started handing out porridge for breakfast. Markus soon walked in and made his way to the stage. He nodded at Vera almost imperceptibly and started his usual speech about getting to training or jobs. At the end, though, he paused and caught Vera’s eyes.

“Also, in three months, the Master Council will be convening here. At this point I will be naming my replacement.” Everyone broke into hushed whispers, but Markus kept his eyes firmly on Vera. “I hope everyone will work extra hard during this time to prove themselves, but I think we all know who is in the lead right now.” He smirked.

“Only because she steals kills!” Xander yelled from behind her. She could feel his form looming over her back, but she didn’t bother turning as she sneered,

“It’s not stealing when you throw the thing at me. Just admit you couldn’t handle two wolves and shut up, I’ve had enough of your noise.” Almost before she could finish talking she felt him grip her shoulder to spin her around. His fist was already in the air, but she calmly brought her hand up to block him. With a flick, she turned all his force to the side so his hit never landed. While he was still shocked at her reaction, she swept her foot toward his closest knee and hooked it, so he stumbled and knelt before her.

“No wonder you couldn’t handle two wolves. You can’t even handle me, though you’re so “obviously better”,” Vera looked down at him with disgust evident on her face and started to walk toward Markus, who looked angrily at Xander. She didn’t care what job he sent her on or what training, if she could just get away from such a pig-headed man.

“YOU b***h!! I’ll show you who’s better!” Xander yelled. She hadn’t expected that he would keep going, especially with so many onlookers, so she didn’t turn in time before she heard fabric being torn. When she looked around, all eyes were on her, but she couldn’t quite figure out why until she looked down and noticed that her tunic had been torn on her side, and dark liquid had started to stain the fabric.

Before she could start to feel the pain her eyes swept up to her attacker. He had his knife out, stained with her blood, and his stance was ready for her attack. Without a moment's hesitation, she leapt at him, pulling her own knives out of her belt and meeting him head-on. Now that he had attacked her she saw no reason to hold back, and fully intended to take his head as her own trophy.

She vaguely sensed that the other Hunters had gathered around and were cheering one or the other on, but she kept her focus mainly on Xander's movements, anticipating which way he would go next and almost always knowing he would try a fake-out at the last second. When that didn’t work, he would come at her with his full strength, anticipating that she would get intimidated, but that didn’t work either. As he grew more frustrated, Vera only waited until he would get close enough that she could match the wound he had given her.

She could feel warmth growing on that side of her body and started wanting to end this quickly before the pain really set in. As she thought of that, Xander started making his move, stalking closer to her and eyeing her side, obviously wanting to open her wound wider. Just as he was about to lunge, Markus stepped between them and roughly pushed him back with his full strength. The shove sent Xander stumbling into the crowd behind him, but they held him back before he could come at this new attacker.

“That’s enough! How dare you fight here? Both of you are dismissed for the day and will face the Gauntlet with Brent tomorrow.” Vera scowled and stomped upstairs, but Markus quickly steered her by the shoulder toward the infirmary instead. She could feel his anger through the grip, and was sure he was leaving bruises.

The infirmary was set just outside the back-door where any injured could be brought without having to deal with the rest of the Lodge, and far enough away that no screams could be heard from it. Markus pushed her through the door without a word and guided her roughly to the nearest bed, indicating for her to lie down. Immediately, a nurse rushed over and lifted her shirt to look at her.

When her tunic was lifted Vera grimaced at the fabric sticking to her as more blood was allowed to gush out. She hadn’t had time to feel it before, but now she became overwhelmingly aware of the pain.

“That low-down bastard!” Markus muttered when he saw the wound. “I’ll have Brent run him to his own grave for attacking someone like that. How could this Lodge retain any respect if he were to lead them like that?”

Vera didn’t say anything as the nurse started mashing herbs together to form a paste, but Markus kept muttering and trying not to grimace when it was applied.

“Listen, Vera. I wanted to keep quiet but he went too far. You have to beat him! You’re up by one trophy right now, but that’s no guarantee. You need a big move that will impress the council and prove you’re the better option to lead the Lodge.”

Vera only glanced at him as the nurse began wrapping a bandage around her torso, but as soon as she was done, Markus stepped in front of her so she could only see him. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and leaned down so she was looking him in the eye.

“There’s a pack nearby with a very powerful Alpha. You need to kill him.”