Monster Hunters

Fighting is Fun

I found out a lot about my companions that night. Mark explained that we needed to know a lot about each other if we were going to be working together like cogs in a machine. We needed to know each other's moves and anticipate each other's thoughts. 

Mark for instance had natural tracking skills, he had slight night vision and an incredible sense of smell and hearing. So if there was something rustling in the bushes around camp at night, he was usually the one to check it out. He had several handled weapons, two hammers hung from his belt around his hips, and two axes were strapped to his back.

Elliot was fast, blindingly fast. She used a bow and arrows, both she made herself. She had incredible accuracy whether using her arrows or throwing daggers. She also was skilled in gymnastics, able to do flips and back handsprings through the woods.

Hudson was like a human monkey. She was an incredibly skilled climber and jumper. I watched her climb a large oak tree without even breaking a sweat, and then leap off the branch landing nimbly on her feet. She used a spear which could retract and grow on her demand. She had it strapped to her back, and a small knife strapped to her hip. 

Waverly was skilled in witchcraft. She had numerous powers, and a large red cloak that gave her lots of her abilities. She had daggers of all shapes and sizes strapped to her belt and concealed on her, but couldn't see. 

As they each demonstrated their powers to me, and I was in complete shock. They were all so amazing, how could I even catch up to them? How long had they been monster hunting? So many questions were running through my head, and I was startled when Waverly spoke up.

"You must have so many questions," she said with a small laugh. I nodded slowly, I figured she could read my mind, but she told me earlier that it doesn't work like that. "Let's start with one that's really bugging you." I glanced around at the other's who were training or something. 

"How long have each of you been doing this?" I asked her, stitching my eyebrows together, and a running a hand through my messy hair, making it stick up more. 

"Well...it varies," she said. "Elliot's been hunting with her parents the longest. If she seems angry or pissed it's because she usually is. She's been hunting since she was five? Her parents took a short break to have her, then once she was old enough they joined the group again. I was second, I've been doing magic with my mom for almost all my life. That's how she and my dad met, my dad was the monster hunter. They met while hunting down a sorcerer or something. I didn't start hunting until I was ten...Mark started a couple years ago....and Hudson got here last year." She looked at me with a small smile. "Everything will be okay, we're a big family and there are times where we don't get along but we work as a machine. Each one of us is a cog forming one perfect Monster Hunter team."

I looked up just in time to see Elliot throwing my sword at my chest. "Your turn, Ryder," she said. She may have had a permanent scowl, but she was gorgeous. Her thin pink lips and her thick dark brows over her chocolatey brown eyes.

 I pulled the sword from the wool blankets it was wrapped in and stood up. I held it loosely in my hand, swinging it, I was careful not to hit anyone. Elliot pointed at Mark who stood in the clearing, battle hammers at the ready. 

"Don't I get a shield or some body armor or something?" I said looking at Elliot and Waverly who stood in front of me. Elliot cocked an eyebrow at me and smirked. 

"You get Behemoth armor when you kill one," she said gesturing to her own black alligator looking armor.  She glanced at Waverly. "As for the shield...you shouldn't need one." She turned swiftly heading back to the clearing with Hudson. Waverly and I followed behind her.