Sapphire A Huntress no more (Sapphire Book 1)
Chapter 7

Headaches, that was one thing I had from before everything started. Today though the pain was because of the tension in the room rather than a biological pain. The dining room was quiet as no one spoke, just looked at one another. The only soul in this room who seemed to have no care in the world was the king himself, he was actually smiling while eating his dinner.

Kuno Hughs was the main reason the people in the room were so tense. Except Charles, no one knew he was a guest. Kuno was one of Cole’s trainers, and as we found out he was a hunter undercover. From what he told us, the true hunter society was made out of humans and super-natural’s alike. Cole Bates was not only the enemy of werewolves but the enemy of his own people as well.

‘So why are you here then? If what you say is true and there are others who hunt Cole, what is your intention in coming here?’ Stephen had been interrogating Kuno for some time now, which was a good thing when his questions were not addressed to me. What a relief!

‘I came here to ask for your help, but especially hers…’ He pointed at me and all turned their attention to me…’in taking Cole down once and for all.’

‘How did all this become about me? And why are you all looking at me for?’

‘You know more about Cole than anyone else does, and he is looking everywhere for you. He is very mad you left, won’t listen to reason. Before I left he ordered every tracker to replace you, dead or alive.’

The room was silent once again, the only difference was now the attention was drown to me. I heated being the centre of attention now more than ever.

Cole had always been hot headed or so I know him to be. Once he put his mind to something he would see nothing and listened to no one until he reached his goal.

‘If what you say is true Kuno, and Cole has put a prize on my head then there is one thing I can do.’

‘I see, so you will help me and the other hunters get rid of Cole won’t you?’ His face lit up.

‘I never said that I will help you, what I will do though is leave as soon as possible.’

‘What are you saying, why leave?’ Charles spoke for the first time since dinner started, how weird he was frowning at the fact that I will leave.

‘Why not leave? Cole is after me and if I know him as well as I think I do, he will be focusing on replaceing me and hopefully you will be left alone for a while. A win-win for all of us.’

‘How is that wining?’ Stephen was angry. If it was because I said I would leave or because I just spoke only he could tell.

She was a bold one, I admit. Alice was always quiet and doing what she was told during training. But I knew she had more of a wild side to her, after all Cole wouldn’t have made her his right hand for nothing. What surprised me the most was how she was about to sacrifice herself in order to save the very beings she, not so long ago hunted. Dinner finished without further discussions. After every wolf left for their respective chamber I was left seating at an empty table with the werewolf King. The hunter association had given me all the information they had on him, he was a fearsome fellow even though he looked not so scary. Actions though spoke for themselves, he was the werewolf king who survived a hunter attack on his own and become a legend among hunters and supernatural beings alike. Not everyone thinks he is alive though, Cole does not know that the last king’s son was still alive, thought he killed all the royal line, how wrong he was.

‘So, mister Hughs, what really brings you here?’

‘Whatever do you mean?’

‘I know you came here for the girl. Did you think I would not know what the hunters are planning? My father was too naïve to trust your kind, and look where that trust took him. I won’t do the same mistake. Your boss wants to eliminate Erin, will you tell me why, or should I be the one to do so?’

‘The rumours going around the headquarters about the King of werewolves having a spy under our noses were not false after all. Indeed, that is what my superiors want of me, to kill a potential threat to our kind, but I have a different view, the girl can be an asset to us. I am here to recruit her.’

‘An honest hunter is hard to replace these days, but you know I will not let her leave these walls. As you said she can be an asset, but for whom it is for her to decide.’

‘And what if her choice is to vanish from our gasp, or to kill all of us in our sleep?’

‘Well Mr. Hughs that is something only the Moon Goddess has an answer to.’

I wanted to see the sun, that was the only reason for going out of that huge cave. Too bad that it was night, and cloudy and cold not even the moon was on the sky. The cold entered my bones but that was ok, it meant I was still alive. The beast in me was quiet, she enjoyed the cold, embraced it, I could not. All I thought about were insignificant things, I had no plan, no purpose. Cole was on his way to kill me and the werewolves, there was another hunter branch I had no idea about, an annoying wizard hunter that kept following me, I had no way out of this mess and the future I once dreamed about shattered long ago. One thing was now set in stone, I was no longer just human, just a hunter but a werewolf and a hunted one at that.

It smelled of fog and burned wood. It was something nostalgic about the smell, it reminded me of something from a long time ago. It is the smell of our home. Which home are you speaking of? It had never smelled of burned wood and fog when I was at Cole’s mansion. You forget that we came from another place, where this smell was an everyday occurrence. That may be true but I remember nothing about my time before Cole and the other hunters. I remember and that is the important thing, and you will too, now that we found each other it will come to you, one day at a time. The silence fell again but like most good things it had to end.

‘How long are you going to stay there hidden in the shadows?’

‘I wouldn’t call them shadows, but how did you know I was watching?’ Kuno had an air of mischief around him but his true self was hidden under that layer and his eyes were the gate that opened that spark in him.

‘I am a werewolf now, remember? And to answer your next question…I smelled you following me, before you shielded your smell.’ He was taken back by what I said, but he recovered quick.

‘I have a proposition for you. If you have no desire to stay here how about you come with me to the headquarters? We could use your help over there.’

‘Collecting me was your purpose all along, wasn’t it?’

‘It was one of the reasons I came.’

‘I have nothing for you Kuno, I have yet to reach a decision on what my life should be like from now on. But what I can promise you is that I will think about your proposition. Now if you don’t mind I would like to be alone.’