The Hunter

Calm Before the Storm

Finn helped Gloria get into her bedroom in one piece. She got a glass of water and a jug of the same and made Gloria sip the glass until it was done before she passed out. While she looked after the younger girl, and sipped at her own water, she considered Elizabeth's orders.

She knew Elizabeth hated her, and had since they were girls, and would love to see Finn removed from the position of the Hunter. If this order was meant to cause a rift between her and the council it wouldn't be the first one, although it was certainly the clumsiest. Finn remembered at the last minute to sleep in the hotel room and she lay in the strange room and stared towards the ceiling.

When she woke the next morning it was to knocking at the door and the call of 'housekeeping'. She stood up carefully, not enough water to stave off the hangover entirely apparently, and walked to the door. She opened it just as the housekeeper, a young man that was too small for the uniform he'd been given, reached out with his set of keys for the rooms.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He stumbled back and Finn narrowed her eyes. He could barely look in her direction and was trying - and failing - not to look to one side of her door. "I thought you'd left for the day. Do you umm." He froze as he forgot whatever he was about to ask and Finn smiled slightly.

"We're good thank you. Would you happen to know of any land in the area for sale?"

The boy stuttered and shifted back behind his cart. "Umm, no. Mr. McAllister had his up for sale, but I guess he took it off the market again." He turned red as though he wasn't supposed to say even that, and then he started pushing his cart away.

Finn watched him go as she shut the door.  She used the bathroom door to get into the house and woke up Gloria, who had a green cast to her skin. "I think I found something we can use in town."

"Yes." Gloria said and blinked at the room. "This isn't the hotel. Did I mess up? Oh god I'm gonna be sick." She lunged towards the bathroom that appeared in front of her and Finn blinked, then went to make toast for the both of them.

By the afternoon Gloria had recovered, and sworn never to imbibe again, and Finn had told her about the housekeeper. They returned to the hotel and left for the day, checking in at the Local Government District office in the town and a few towns close by as well. There really was nothing in the area unless the one in the town had something, but that was a slim chance with Finn making it known what they were looking for. Finn drove them back to the hotel.

"Checkout is at noon." Louise said as they passed the front desk.

"See you tomorrow," Finn growled out with a thin smile.

In the room Gloria sat down. "We need more time."

"What?" Finn was about to leave the hotel room for the weapons room in the house, but she stopped at the defeated tone in Gloria's voice.

"We need more time. To prove they don't need to die."

Finn scoffed. "No one ever needs to die." Gloria followed her into the weapons room. "Just grab stuff to stay comfortable, don't worry about weapons."

"What are you doing?" Finn glanced at Gloria and chuckled at the disgusted look on the girls face. Her outfit had that effect on people. Black leggings under stained brown cargo pants, a tight, dark green tank top under several leather straps that held various holsters and bags tight to her torso. She added a zip up hoody that had been a deep green before it was stained as badly as the pants.

"Camouflage. Although I'll be using a spell to make us invisible as well if something happens and I have to drop it this will help us to blend in while I get us somewhere safe." Gloria frowned and looked to the available clothes. "Speaking of, if anything does go wrong stay behind me and don't cast. Learning to cast in tandem with someone else isn't something you do in a dangerous situation. I don't need to be defending myself against you and others."

"There's an actual invisibility spell?" Gloria asked.

"Several, but we're going simple tonight. Just a basic spell that will make us nearly impossible to see."

"Nearly?" 

"Well," Finn sat down to put her knife in it's sheath and wait for Gloria to pick her clothes. "Some magical creatures will be able to see through the spell, unicorns and dragons in particular, and some human casters can see where we aren't. It's weird and hard to explain, you may pick up that ability and you may not. But since we aren't going to go walking through a group of them banging a gong we don't need anything stronger than that one."

"What are we doing?" Finn asked, running her fingers down one of the rifles that Finn kept ready.

"Hunting. I need to get into a meeting, I need to know what exactly we're dealing with so that I know how to proceed." She watched Gloria through narrowed eyes.

"Elizabeth told you how to proceed." Gloria muttered.

"That she did." Finn stood up. "Let's go." She cast the spell and wrapped it around Gloria first, paying attention to the overlaps of the spell and tying it into her clothing. When she cast it around herself it enveloped her like a familiar smell and she nodded.

They left the room, but instead of coming out in the hotel room they came out of a shed in a back yard. Gloria opened her mouth and as Finn was about to signal her to be quiet she closed it and tapped Finn, her question obvious on her face. Finn held a finger up to her face in a shushing motion and pointed to the back door of the house. "I did some research while you were showering. The young housekeeper lives here."

Gloria nodded and the stood waiting. As the sun finally began to light the forest around them up from beneath the tallest of the trees the boy and his family exited the house and made their way furtively into the forest. Finn and Gloria followed at a distance that kept the sounds of their feet on the path from being noticeable without losing sight of them. Finn ignored the furtive glances that Gloria kept giving her, one way or another the girl would have to learn all the aspects of the job that paired with hers.