Who's hunting Who? Chapter 45.

This one is a bit light, but it ended where it ended and I didn't want to force the word count. I think it works better this way. Let me know how you feel about it, if you feel the urge. In either case, please enjoy.

At last, I wasn't needed to teach directly. Now all that I needed to do was watch the people I'd trained train others and yell a lot while I looked stoic as hell.

I didn't like how some of the recruits were looking at me, though; too much lust, and not nearly enough awe. The teachers knew better, of course, but the new blood didn't know who I was. At least not well enough.

Vivian was absent, doing her job in other ways, and not the job of watching me and making sure I wasn't murdering everyone.

I did not know where Cat was, and that made me more than a little nervous. She was supposedly patrolling, looking for witches on her own time out of boredom. I thought it was more likely she'd gone back to her own dimension or space or home, whatever that fever dream was.

I didn't blame her for wanting to check in with her not quite imaginary friends, but having her out of sight made me a little anxious.

Much like others had been with me, even if it was completely unearned. I did feel the feelings that both Ivan and Gloom had said they felt on more than one occasion. I was getting punished by the universe at large for past... indiscretions. I had little doubt.

At least I wasn't sitting and drooling. That was a plus.

Gray slowly blinked as I met his eyes. "You need something?"

"Just wondering how all this happened. How we got here. What a long strange trip it's been," I whispered back.

Gray nodded. "Good song."

What song? No, that was a question I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to ask how old the song was or who sang it. I didn't want to ask for Gray to sing part of it. It was probably some weird alien song from his home world and translated to English or something.

I was alone enough that I could probably talk to myself outright and not have a problem, but that was a bad habit to get into.

There, that guy... he was going to strangle himself with the trip-line cords now. How had he even managed to get wrapped up like that?

It didn't take long for my best students to descend, and between the yelling and the earnest attempts to unwind the person, it proved a nice entertaining laugh for awhile.

It reminded me of when I was four. We didn't speak of when I was four.

Not the least of which was almost everyone who knew of that incident was dead. That secret was safe enough forever.

Something... someone was close. Someone had managed to get through all these people, and was close enough to ping my senses and Gray's radar, or whatever it was Gray used.

I had to be very careful here. Gray was allowed to turn his head and gawk like a fresh blooded moron, but some of us had to avoid giving the game away.

I could cheat and just send Gray after whoever it was, but if it was a witch, that might bite me in the ass quick.

I couldn't even say a word or two, in case they were a hunter. Most of us could read lips when we needed to. I wasn't the best at it myself, but it was something we were all taught the basics of. This would be so much easier if I just knew who it was.

At least I knew it was only one person. Well, or witch. Witches weren't exactly people, even if I was one of them now. One only had to look at Her to figure that one out.

Luckily, I had a bit of an excuse; the newbies nearest where the intruder was were screwing up their traps. Not any worse than anyone else was, but bad enough to give me a reason to hop off this set of bleachers and take the small journey over there.

That would get me close enough; it was doubtful anyone would beat me in a sprint if I got close enough. Unless, ironically enough, they set their own line of traps to slow me down and force caution. A hunter would have one hundred percent done that already.

Some of the recruits might get a bit more real life experience than they thought they would this morning.

The two training this squad stiffened as they saw me jogging over. They even went so far as to give salutes with hands that had a bit of a tremor. Both of them, which was a little odd; it wasn't like I was Cat - I wasn't going to eat them alive.

I got close enough, stopped, raised a finger... and lunged. Whoever it was, they hadn't suspected a thing. Or at least, hadn't suspected me enough to start running early.

With my power flowing through my legs, it took me fewer than a hundred steps to get eyes on my target.

A man at the start of the treeline, slight of build and wearing a ghilie suit to break up his profile. Which marked him as either a military trained sniper or one of our scouts. Judging from the material the suit was made from, I'd say it was one of ours - or the hunts. Guess I couldn't claim them anymore, even if I was teaching their techniques.

The man had turned and was a few steps in, but it was far too late for him to run now.

Oh, hey, I knew this guy. It was Frank.

Frank had become a scout when I was still being trained. Which meant he'd been a scout for the hunt before I'd been a hunter, and he'd survived this long. We'd worked together, more than once. More than a dozen times. He was a proverbial good egg.

Which was going to make this very... tricky.

"Frank."

He kept going, his run the most efficient, yet the most panicked I'd ever seen him.

"Frank, stop."

He rattled to a surprisingly noisy stop, one hand holding the large tree he crashed against. His other hand was clear and empty.

Which was smart of him.

He turned, and he was wearing his standard poker face. Or game face, I guess. The face he used while he was on the job. "Been awhile, Sasha."

We had some time yet before any of the others caught up and made this even worse. Time enough: "So how awful are you intending to make things for me?"

I really didn't want to kill the man. The only reason I even had a choice right now is that Cat was gone; if she were here, this man would already be a smear.

Frank held his hands up for just a little bit as he turned fully to face me, then lowered them. "Would you believe not at all? I see an ex-hunter training people in how best to survive, making the best of a bad situation."

I knew what he was saying, but I felt compelled to press: "And if someone asks you...."

"Then I'll say I saw an ex-hunter training people in the best hunting techniques to survive. A hunter I personally know to be one of the best."

The game face cracked for just a moment; he let me see the emotion beneath.

"Right. Get out of here then. I can't guarantee your safety if you stay."

His reply had me rethinking my generosity, briefly: "Big words for a pipsqueak."

Then he turned serious. "Take care of yourself, Sasha. Keep fighting the good fight."

He held out a fist, and as was tradition between us, I bumped it. "You too. Keep an eye on what's important."

He turned, just as he no doubt started hearing the others beginning to crash into the treeline behind us. "One last thing. The Gloom and some of the others are still active. They're doing the whole roaming knight thing. If they catch wind that you're here, you should expect them."

He warned me. I'd have a few months here at best and a few weeks at worst. "Yeah, I knew no attack could take them down. Thanks for the info."

He nodded once, set himself, and then he was gone.

The recruits caught up. "Found someone spectating, and chased them off before they could get hurt."

The best lies were the truth, after all. Something like that.

"I... see. not a spy?" The man in charge of this group asked. He was some form of officer, and would no doubt be reporting to his own superiors.

"Not the normal kind of spy, no. At least, I didn't think so. Just a guy wanted to see what's what and in way over his head." Also not a lie, even given how witches could turn the most unlikely of people into spies through a variety of means.  

A witch could steal his appearance, but I was willing to bet Frank hadn't been turned; if he had, he wouldn't have told me about the others - or warned me.

"Right. I'll post more sentries. Maybe find the ones we're supposed to have. You can head back."

I knew an order when I heard one, despite how it was worded. A part of me wanted to take issue, but I decided to let it go. "Sure thing, student. See you soon."

mostly let it go. The wince the man gave when he thought I couldn't see was enough for now. The remedial crash course building on what he'd learned only a few days ago? Wouldn't be motivated by personal feelings at all.

It was nice to know for sure that some of us had made it. Not just the heavy hitters, because of course those hadn't, but the rank and file were still around.

A relief that it wasn't all on us.

Right on cue, Cat dropped down out of the trees and draped herself around me. As usual, I hadn't sensed her coming at all. "So, what's up? I expected you in the clearing."

"Had a watcher. Someone I knew."

Cat made an exaggerated face of clear surprise. "And they aren't dead?"

"No need. They won't tell."

Cat shrugged, and more importantly, she stayed put. "Whatever, that one is your call."

Good, I'd have hated trying to light the woman up to save Frank. I'd have hated the failure to manage it even more. "So where have you been? It shouldn't have taken hours to see your crowd."

Cat shrugged again. "Found a witch on the way back. No one we knew, of course, or I'd have cut you in on it. She was old, but not tough. Had experience, but little power."

Which meant that Cat must still be hungry.

This time, it was my turn to shrug. "Whatever; that one is your call. You know enough to let me know who you find."

Cat smirked. "Of course, I wouldn't deny you your chance to get good old fashioned revenge. I'll come get you if it's anyone we know."

There was more I needed to know. "How close was she?"

"Outskirts of town. Living there quietly, likely for decades. Even had her appearance altered. The illusion is how I found her, of course. How she managed to deny her baser instincts is beyond me, but she pulled it off. I was going to ask the neighbors... but I didn't find any. So maybe we can do all that later."

Cat did not have the focus for Hunt work. She downright made me look studious.

"We will need to; we need to know who she was reporting to." I refused to believe any witch that had been here for years didn't have a master. The best way to make a witch give up her killing ways was to threaten her with a stronger witch.

"Fine by me. Give us something to do, and a way to prove our worth."

Wait, was she being so lazy on purpose? Was that even the word?

Why was I asking? I'd been with Cat for months now; she really was that lazy. "Right. Let's go ahead and do the things. We still have some training we can get done today."

This time, she'd help, and going by that look, she knew I meant it too.

The sigh she favored me with rattled the trees.