The Hunt

Chapter 10- The Fifth

Alma Reebank stood in front of the door, heart pounding.

After spending half an hour deciding on appropriate clothing, and ending with just shorts and a plain shirt, she stumbled down the halls, nearly tripping over her own feet, before she finally ended up at the silicon door to the Prince's common room.

Her hand was raised, ready to knock, but for some reason, she couldn't force herself to knock.

"Okay, Alma, okay. You got this. You can do it."

Her shaking hand hit the door once, twice, three times, and then she backed up. Her thumbs fiddled with each other while she waited and finally the door slid open.

A foreign man stood in the door, arm casually leaning on the wall besides him. Stubble brushed against his chin and cheeks. If she had to guess, she'd say he was about twenty-two to twenty-three. The barely crooked look in his nose made her think it'd been broken before. Either he was in a fight or pissed someone off and got punched. His hand casually resting on his sword convinced her that he was in a fight. Along with the red guard uniform.

"Alma Reebank, right?" He asked.

She nodded.

"I'm Reiko, nice to meet you. Zephyr's inside."

He moved out of the way, giving her a smile while she passed.

"Alma," the prince said, his voice smooth in her ears. "It's good to see you. I assume you've taken me up on my offer?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Zeph or Zephyr's fine. Your Highness gets old after a while." He turned down and motioned to a rust haired figure sitting on the couch. "Alma, this is Orion Magnus, from the Assassins Keep. Orion, this is Alma."

The assassin stood up and turned to her. Pale skin with rusty hair and freckles dusted on his cheeks.

"You..." she mumbled.

"So you two know each other?" The foreign guard, Reiko asked. "Well that just makes every-"

"You shouldn't be moving you stubborn ass! You got glass in your stomach! Your stomach! Alavea, goddess of the Saints, will have your and my head for this."

"So much for the shy little Saint, huh Rei?"

Alma froze, immediately blushing in front of the two terrifyingly intimidating men and, Saints forbid, the prince himself.

"Oh, goddess' forgive me- Oh my. I-I'm so sorry. I-I was out of line."

"No no," the prince, bless him, reassured. "If my Saint can't tell people when they need to rest, I wouldn't have as much faith in her."

Bless this perfect creature.

"We have one more member, but she's napping in the other room," the prince continued. "Rei, could you get her. I mean, seeing as you two get along so well."

"Can't you send Orion? I mean, let them get to know each other or something?"

"You heard the Saint, he needs rest."

Reiko, or Rei as the prince called him, rolled his eyes before walking to a door further back.

"Feel free to take a seat," Zephyr offered, motioning towards one of the two couches. "Can I get you something to eat? Something to drink?"

"Uh, water, if you don't mind."

He nodded, happily walking over to the kitchen.

Alma turned back to her patient, resting a hand on his shirt before pulling up the hem.

"You're lucky you didn't break one of your stitches, you know?" She said, pressing a finger against the thin line of healing skin. "It's only been a day and you already think you're fine."

"I am fine," he bit back.

She raised an eyebrow. Her fingers pinched the split flesh and she heard him bite back a gasp.

"Fine my ass."

"Competing in the Succession Games is the greatest honor of a member of the Royal Assassins Keep."

"Don't give me that. There's no honor for the dead."

"I'm not giving up this competition."

"I never said you have to," she said, dropping the hem of his shirt. "But only because I'm coming along. If I weren't, I would've had you restrained to your bed for this stupidity."

Orion opened his mouth to speak, but Zephyr spoke first. "I feel it's only right if I warn you about Cecily, the other competitor."

He handed the water to Alma before sitting down on the couch across from the two of them.

"As of this point, she's given me no reason to believe she wants to hurt anyone who doesn't want to hurt her, but that could change, so be careful. About, hmm, twelve hours ago, I pulled her out of the prison with Reiko's recommendation, more or less. And yes, that prison. She's a killer, and a strong one. They gave her a name around there, The Hunter. A lot of people were too scared to touch her. Right before we pulled her, she's slaughtered a small groups of murders, provoked, but still. She slaughtered them."

Chills ran down the shy medic's spine. A killer. A real live murderer. She's dealt with the butt ends of of some of their works. Dead bodies, near dead bodies that become dead bodies. But she'd never actually met one.

In her head, she could see a tall woman, strong. More muscular than beautiful. Probably and angry hole of hate. Dead eyes and a cold heart.

Alma heard the door open and was almost scared to face the murderer.

She didn't have to.

The murderer came to her.

She was a small girl, maybe an inch taller than Alma, with beautiful autumn hair and obsidian eyes that shone in the light. A light row of freckles dusted against her cheeks. Even under clothes, she could make out the muscles of the girl, and the perfect curves of her body, not to mention the mechanical movement of her arm.

No, she told herself, not a girl. A beautifully, stunning, graceful, murderer of a woman.