The Hunter

On-the-Job Training

Gloria reached for another book. Finn hadn't asked what she was looking for when she brought Gloria her tea, and Gloria knew better than to ask Finn. Or at least she thought she knew better. It probably wasn't considered good manners to ask to read someone's Chronicle. She flipped through the book, found nothing about Finn or her family, and set it aside on an ever growing pile.

A scent of cinnamon wafted to Gloria and she glanced over her shoulder at Uriel where he now sat with a bag of apples on his lap. "I hope you don't mind that I just popped in." Uriel spoke soothingly and Gloria realized she had been getting frustrated. "Only I thought you may not remember that you could summon me if you need help with the Chronicles, and a fire mage in a library could cause problems." Uriel shrugged with one hand and held the bag of apples out with the other. Gloria blinked in surprise as Finn stalked into the room, a kitchen knife in her hand and rage on her face.

"The fu-"

"A peace offering." Uriel smiled as he spoke, but didn't look at Finn. "For coming in without a summons or warning."

"So now I'm supposed to what? Bake you a pie?" Finn asked caustically.

Uriel turned his gentle, laughing eyes to Finn. "If you're offering to go to that amount of trouble, I would prefer one of your apple strudels."

Finn blinked and huffed, one hand taking the bag and the other lowering the knife. "I don't know if I have the stuff for strudels. We'll see what I can come up with."

Gloria blinked at the exchange and tilted her head. "For someone she claims to hate you seem to be very good at manipulating her."

Uriel chuckled. "Ah, she hates my species true, but personally her and I have never really been at odds." Uriel's smile grew sad. "It also helps that I've been around off and on for her entire life." The angle blinked and smiled at Gloria. "Now then, what are we looking for."

"Honestly if I could find the biography section that would be helpful." Gloria waved her hand at the library and sighed her frustration out. Uriel blinked at her in surprise and coughed.

"I'm sorry what section?" His lips twitched and Gloria frowned at him.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Possibly. Only really if I heard you correctly. What section?"

"Biography."

Uriel chuffed a laugh and lowered his head. "Then yes I am. All the Chronicles are biographies." At the look of dawning realization on Gloria's face Uriel smiled broadly. "Again, you are very new to all of this. What exactly are you looking for?"

"I don't want to tell you." Gloria glanced at the door to the library. "Or, I guess I don't want Finn to know and she seems to have really amazing hearing."

"Ah, a perk to being the Hunter is you sense things that are pertinent better than others. You smell an angle before they get into the room, you hear comments that could signal someone needs you, you see shadows move before your attacker actually commits to the motion." Uriel ticked off on his fingers. "Actually there may be a sort of manual in here for that. Two Hunter's ago. The man was a stickler for writing down details."

As Uriel began to look through the books in the pile that Gloria had set aside she shook her head. Closing her eyes she took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling her frustration heating her up from the inside.

"That's really not the point." She said.

Uriel scoffed and put the books in his hands down. "Apologies, that wasn't the point at all. The point I meant to make, and didn't, was that she doesn't have anything more than regular hearing. Just as you don't have the ability to read Mandarin, yet you can read the Chronicles just fine." He touched the book in Gloria's hands and she glanced down. It was about a creature from China she had never heard of and she had been about to put it into the pile she would read sooner rather than later. At the angel's comment she looked at the book. Really, truly looked at it. And realized that the embossed leather cover was not written in the English alphabet and language.

"As the Chronicler you have two options for Finn to not hear you. You can whisper, or you can close the library off to the rest of the house." Uriel did not sound condescending as he explained to Gloria what should have been common sense. Close the door or whisper. She felt stupid for letting her thinking get so complicated.

"And summoning you?" She asked quietly.

"Summoning me is as simple as asking for me, I will hear you, or you can use the phone. I'm on speed dial." Uriel pointed to a small desk in a dark corner of the library. Gloria blinked as she realized there was a phone on it, then she put her face in her hand and groaned.

Gloria turned when she heard the soft thud of the library door closing. Uriel sat back down in the chair he had originally appeared in and smiled at Gloria. "I originally came here to help you. You were getting frustrated, let's get back to that. I'm afraid I'm terrible for rambling tangents."

"You said you've been around Finn all her life?"

"Off and on yes, she isn't the Chronicler but she's been acting as such for a while now."

"I want to know about her before. I was hoping to find her Chronicle in here." Uriel's face went slack a moment before melting in a sad sort of acceptance. 

"Living Chronicles are a little different from the dead ones. If someone is still alive their Chronicle must be summoned to be read and, as is the case with Finn, some people are very protective of their Chronicles. She would know as soon as you summoned it and she would likely refuse you access to it."

"She can do that?" Gloria frowned.

"When someone has died the Chronicle is in past tense and it is finished. When they are still alive their Chronicle is just as alive. It changes as their perspective on things changes, and can even be rewritten if they were to go from a villain to a hero, although that example is itself a horrible cliché." Uriel sighed. "What exactly are you wanting to know?"

"She seemed to have a really long history with that book. And the demon. And why is she allowed to have a demon in the house and you aren't mad?"

Uriel nodded and thought a moment. "She certainly has history with the contents of that room, part of which has to do with her roll as the Hunter. She's put that demon into a space that we haven't seen any human do ever, and so we're watching."