Page 86 of Huntress

“I’m sure you can guess,” she sighed, then called over to the elder hunter. “I still have four days off! Go away.”

“You’ve got time to play with your pet demon, but not with me? I’m wounded, really.” Her mentor crossed the distance between them. He eyed the people trying to look busy now that he’d arrived and shook his head. “Walk with me.”

“You’d better make it quick, or I’ll report you for wage theft,” she threatened, and he laughed.

“Don’t you worry, you’ll be getting paid.”

They moved to the outside of the track, making room for anyone using it to get around them on the inside. Albright and Elsie walked side by side, and Saint trailed behind them, giving them space without letting her out of his sight.

“I’m pleased to see the two of you getting along,” Albright said.

“Don’t pretend you care. Out with it, what do you want?” Elsie asked as soon as they were out of earshot of those with even the most sensitive hearing.

He pressed a hand to his chest and pouted. “I’m here to help you. Two days ago I overheard Mordane telling Cornick that you’re here, and now he’s on his way back. He should be here in a few hours. But don’t worry, I went straight to Roz and reserved your time for myself. Tracker training.”

Elsie groaned.

“Don’t be like that, wouldn’t you rather go camping with me than deal with that ol’ snake?” he prodded. “Trust me, it’ll be fun. I’ve set up a game of hide-and-seek, though your target has a two-day head start.”

She glanced back at Saint, who was listening with interest. “Okay.”

“Bring the demon with you. It’s probably not a good idea to leave him behind while Cornick is here. Unless you want to hand him over to Clairemont?” He gave her a knowing grin.

Elsie debated smacking him. She glanced at Saint, then pressed her lips together with annoyance, nodding at her mentor. “We’ll go.”

“It wasn’t really a choice. Meet me outside in twenty minutes.”

Chapter nineteen

Chapter 19

They moved fast, careful to avoid Mordane so he couldn’t sideline their plans. She slapped a note on the outside of her door to stop her squad from worrying, grabbed their supplies, and met Albright outside the barrier.

“Normally you’d start in Mordane’s office. He’d have this file ready for you.” Albright handed over a thick envelope. She opened it, took one look at the contents, and slammed it closed before shoving the file back at him, but he wouldn’t take it.

“Are you kidding? I can’t be looking at that!”

“You’re now required to look, more than that, you’re expected to study, even memorize this. Don’t worry, he volunteered knowing you’d be seeing it. You’re not violating an innocent party’s privacy.”

“Why would he do that?” Elsie asked, opening the folder to an unredacted copy of a man’s complete service record, starting from the investigation into his recruitment. Every scrap of knowledge the clan had on him was inside, from his lineage and fertility rating for the breeding program to notes taken during counseling sessions.

“To help you train. The sooner you’re out there tracking rogue hunters down, the sooner my squad can retire from the task.”

“Why do I need this much information on him?”

“Think about it.” Albright grinned at Saint. “He knows.”

Elsie glanced at her demon. “He knows a lot of things, but he’s not the sharing type.”

“You’ll figure it out. Don’t you think you’re overdoing it with the weapons?” He looked them both over. Saint had brought the giant sword he’d swiped off the rat demon, and Elsie had both of her daggers strapped to her thighs.

“You taught me to take my training seriously. Who knows what we’ll run into out there.” She shrugged, turning her attention back to the task at hand.

She glanced through the file quickly, but everything she needed was right there on the first page.

Under a photo of him, it listed:

Levi Brown, Geographer.