The Hunters: Secrets

Chapter 2

Not even three hours after I called the Hunters, they were swarming the place like moths to a light.There was at least thirty of us here. They were pretty spread out looking for clues. It now looked like one of those crime shows. Minus the dramatic music and crime scene tape. I stood off to the side waiting for our Leader Devon to finish talking with the Elders, so he can speak with me. Randell's body was still impaled to the tree. Several Hunters stood to the side trying to decide the best way to get Randell to the main lab with out disrupting the body too much. I heard a guy say to just take the whole tree. I had a good laugh at that one. But it was literally took into serious consideration. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned my head to see who it is. There in all his arrogant glory stood Mason Carter, a fellow Hunter in training. Mason was a big headed prick. He thought he was better then all the other trainees because his dad was an Elder, which is a prestigious position.

"So look at you squirt. You found the guy we've been hunting. You must think your going to get some pretty serious jobs now huh?"

I rolled my eyes at him. He called me squirt because i'm shorter then him and he was 2 years older.

"Yes Mason, that's exactly what I think. I'm practically in line to be an Elder." I retorted. God this kid is obnoxious. I peeked over at Devon hoping he was done talking, but I must have used up all my luck today because he was still talking away. He looked really serious, and pretty pissed off. I wonder why? Probably because we didn't find him alive. I tuned in my hearing and listened to what he was saying. They were talking in hushed tones so I only got bits and pieces.

"are you sure?"

"most positive!"

"the real thing"

"are you..."

"replica?"

"No!"

"the elves could.."

"Hey! Are you listening to me?!" I focused back on Mason, blinking slowly at him. I was so into the conversation next to me, I forgot I was talking to Mason.

"Oh, uh, no not really. Anything you have to say Mason means nothing to me." His eyebrows pushed together and he frowned. He opened his mouth to say something but I turned my back to him and scurried over to the group who was still deciding what to do with Randells body. I had to squeeze through various clumps of people to get them though. That was a Chore on its own. The group consisted of five men I've never met before and Jack. Jack was part of the clean up clue. He made sure that the humans never know that if anything that happens around them had supernatural involved and cleaned up the scenes.

"Jack, what's going on over here?" Jack looked at me his green eyes scrunched together in concentration.

"Ah Rosalind, Just trying to figure out how to get Randell off that blasted tree." He sounded really stressed out about this.

"Whoever killed him like this is a twisted in the head" I looked over at who spoke and it was one the men I didn't know, short curly blonde hair and twinkling blue eyes. I shot him a questioning glance. I'm not big on people jumping into my conversations.

"I'm Eli, I'm from the California group." He informed me. Ah, that makes sense now. The Hunters had separate groups every where one per state. That was just in the U.S. There's various others all throughout the rest of the world.

"That's quite a travel for this." why was he here? I know Randell was a serious threat, but he just sold Florida information. Right?

"I know, but I was needed, plus Randell did more then just mess with Florida headquarters." He was pretty angry. He all but had steam coming from his ears. I looked back over at Jack and decided I was going to ask him the most obvious of questions.

"Why dont you just, yank the sword out?" Jack looked at me like I was stupid.

"Yank it out?! Do you have a death wish?! For all we know it's enchanted or has a curse on it! There will be no 'yanking' Untill it has been properly inspected."

I tugged on the end of my ponytail and bit my lip. Well now I feel stupid. Never touch an object that is involved with the Supernatural unless it has been inspected for hexes/curses/enchantment/poison. That was like lesson three of Training.

"When does the Inspector get here then?" if he gets here soon the faster Randell will be removed and I can go home. Jack scratched the back of his head and looked a little sheepish.

"He won't be here for another hour or so, he got held up." great I'm never going home.i nodded and walked away from the group and went a sat down a little ways off. Touchstone appeared from somewhere behind me and laid down putting his head on my lap. I strokes his head and occasionally tugged on his floppy ears and just watched the Hunters do their Job. I can't wait till I get my official title and actually have a job to do. I watched Mason go off into the woods, most likely scouting the area to see is he can find anything that might deal with the murder.

"Rosalind!" my head snapped over to the sound of my name being called. I saw that it was Devon. The Elders now huddled in a tight circle talking amongst. Devon was a tall, lanky kind of guy, with Long blonde hair he kept tied at the nape of his neck. Glasses perched on the tip of his nose. I never would have guessed for him to be leader. He looks more like he belongs on the Geek Squad. But Devon was deadly fast, is vicious and insanely intelligent. Seeing him go from that playful guy to a Killer is pretty scary.

"listen, I'm sorry to keep you waiting around for so long, you must be pretty exhausted." a concerned look etched on his face. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Its not a problem. I have a job to do. Sleep can wait."

"Rosa, you may be a Hunter, but your not invincible. Let's cut to the chase. Give be a brief on what happened." I grinned a bit same old Devon, A quick chat to make sure you were still kicking, then getting right to business.

A took a deep breath and went into my synopsis on what happened.

"I arrived in Tennessee on June sixteenth, and made it to the Smoky Mountains around the eighteenth. I was traveling along the border of the Mountains walking through the woods, scanning for any trace of human activity. I sent Touchstone ahead so I can take a quick nap and get some energy back. When I heard his howl I went to investigate. I came to the tree where Randell is now. Then..." I trailed off I wasn't sure of I should mention my encounter with the Centaur. Then again it might be important.

"then?" Devon probed.

"Then I heard something behind me, turns out it was a Centaur,"

Devon's eyes widened at this. "he came to investigate because he caught wind of the death. He warned me about the Ghouls, he then left. There was also a note in Randells pocket that I grabbed I know I shouldn't have but I did. After that I called you."Devon nodded his head slowly.

"I wonder why a Centaur would privilege you with a visit. That's not important. You did good Rosalind, go get a few days to rest up and come see us at headquarters when you've recharged." i gapped at that, I've been waiting around for almost three hours for a ten minute debrief? I huffed. This is ridiculous. I turned to go towards the woods. And then go trekking for another hour to hit the roads where the cars are waiting. I bowed my head and turned to leave. When Devon grabbed my arm.

"wait, where the note you mentioned?"my eyes widened

"I forgot about that!" I reached into my Jacket pocket and pulled the note out an handed it to Devon. He immediately opened the note and scanned the page. He brows scrunched together as he read the Latin words. He looked at me and asked if I knew what it meant, and I sheepishly shook my head know.

"Approach this fire, and you will soon be too warm."

It was my turn to scrunch my brows in confusion.

"What does that mean?" Devon shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's a warning. Someone, or something wants us to leave this case alone. Excuse me, I have to go talk to the elders. Go Home." He all but ran to the Elders. Hm, what would warn us away from this? I whistled for Touchstone and headed back into the darkness of the woods. The wind had picked up and was now howling, making a whistling sound. I shivered, it got cold very fast. My breath coming out in puffs at this point. Touchstone whimpered beside me. I had a very uneasy feeling about this. Then it hit me. Ghouls.