The Blood Rite

Talon

"You need to be quicker."

Talon swiped the back of his hand across his forehead. "Yes, sir."

Brock slapped a hand across his back, a cocky grin on his face. Talon watched him saunter off to bother someone else and turned back to his dummy. He continued on with his movements, practicing using his spear to slam into the imaginary vampire's head, then jab it into the gut, and lastly to spear straight through where the heart would be.

It had been over a month, and Talon was quickly catching up to his fellow hunters. Despite what Brock said, he moved quicker, had regained his strength and more, and was being asked to observe more and more hunts. He was more than ready to hunt.

The first day out of the infirmary, he'd walked up to Rufus, the leader of the hunters, and asked about going on a hunt to find Ruby. The man had listened to his tale and then laughed. "Listen, son. I can't send my men, or you especially, off on a blind hunt. You will need to provide us with some sort of photo and even then, you are too unskilled and weak to join."

Talon had endlessly begged Rufus to reconsider, but eventually, after being met with many slammed doors, he saw the man's point. He'd lost any photo he'd owned of Ruby the night he'd been taken by the vampire. As well, he hadn't been able to walk for more than five minutes without stopping to catch his breath.

Now though, he was ready. He'd kill thousands of vampires if it meant finding her.

A call rang out. Talon stopped what he was doing and immediately turned to face the back of the house. It turned out, their 'headquarters' was a large cabin home with enough rooms to be considered a minature mansion. Standing on the balcony was Rufus and beside him, Emily his wife, holding the small instrument made out of bone used to call the hunters to attention.

"Everyone clean up and meet me in the strategy room," he said.

Murmurs arose from the hunters as they put away their weapons. Confused, Talon found Brock and asked, "What is this about?"

"Does it look like I know?" He snapped. Apparently the fact that he was clueless stung his ego. Good.

Talon followed the group in through the house and up into the strategy room which was really just a large study with a round table in the center and a chalk board behind. Rufus and Brock were already there, heads bowed in conversation. Brock's expression was one of a scolded child.

Smothering his smirked, Talon lined up with the rest of the hunters to wait. He spotted Marissa across the room, not bothering to hide the smug grin as she watched Brock and Rufus's exchange. Feeling his gaze, her eyes met his and she rolled them. Talon grinned.

Marissa was a few years younger than he was with long, wavy brown hair, golden skin and big doe eyes. She was one of the shortest girls a part of the hunters but she was the toughest. And one of the nicest.

"Okay," Rufus said, his voice commanding their attention. Brock fell to the side, a scowl on his face. "I'm going to need you all to pay close attention to what I have to say. We have a very big hunt coming up that could give us a very important victory."

"Victory against whom?" Asked Emily.

He nodded, "Against Orpheus."

There were sharp gasps and small cheers and even some terrified expressions at this name alone. Talon felt like he'd missed something as he watched all of the hunters reactions. Some were hugging each other, some had fallen into stunned silence. Or like Marissa, were horror-stricken.

"Yes, we have located the spot of his hide out. In this hideout there are rumored to be hundreds of vampires," another cheer rose up and he lifted his hand, silencing them, "including, the most powerful vampires. We have report that a Night Conjurer is there."

The Night Conjurer. Talon had learned that title early on along with the fact that vampire could have powers like that. As if they weren't strong enough already. The Night Conjurer was said to be the most powerful vampire known. He vaguely remembered Death mentioning the name at some point. Or was it one of his buddies?

Talon shook his head and refocused.

If there were hundreds of vampires, what was the chance that Ruby was there?

"Where is it?" Talon asked.

Rufus locked eyes with him, "Almost a full day's ride from RedZone."

Talon's eyes went wide. RedZone. He'd assumed that who or whatever had taken Ruby's body had camped out near the area. But this has to be it. There was no way it wouldn't be.

"We will will leave here Thursday morning. Until then, I need you all to train harder than you ever have before. I will have Brock up the workouts that you do. I will let you all know who I'm taking with on Wednesday."

"A week," someone breathed out in a mix of fear and excitement.

"You may leave," he said.

Conversation errupted as all of the hunters filed out back to the field. Talon stayed behind, waiting to get Rufus alone. The moment the last hunter left, he strode up to him and said, "Sir, I believe my friend Ruby is there."

"Oh yeah?" Rufus said, speculatively, "And what makes you think that?"

"I feel it. I know she is, she has to be. So I wanted to ask if-"

"If you could go."

"Yes, sir."

Rufus sighed, "Listen, Brock tells me you've made a lot of progress and he thinks you are ready to start fighting in hunts. But this is big, Talon. Maybe a little too big for a beginner."

Talon shook his head trying to hide the shock he felt a Brock's kind report. "I have to join this one. You know I do."

The man fell silent, watching Talon with dark eyes. When he spoke, he only said, "Go finish your training."

Talon left the room feeling dejected and furious and determined. He'd prove that he's ready.

And he did. The days leading up to Wednesday, Talon trained harder and faster and longer than before. He'd wake up, scarf down some toast and train. He wouldn't leave the field either unless they had a meeting or he needed to sleep. So, when Wednesday came, Talon went straight to the board in the strategy room and looked at the list of hunters who'd be joining Rufus.

His name was the first on the list.