Page 26 of Blood of a Huntsman

That might prove entertaining. She didn't have a shred of sweetness to her.

Catherine rolled her eyes and pointed north of the Wolvswoods.

"All right, you just missed Chloe and Mikar; they said they'll cover the northwest, from this point to the lake on the other side of Night Hill. We have southwest, from here to the border, near the rail. Crysalia and Anika have southeast."

"What about northeast?" Bash asked, frowning.

Catherine shrugged. "Most of that is the lake, and Cosnoc. Levi said we don't need to trouble ourselves with it."

Cosnoc. The hill where Eirikr had been locked up these last fifteen hundred years. Vampires were always tight-lipped about the specifics, especially with huntsmen, but Bash understood that the area was warded, even more than the rest of Oldcrest.

"So no one guards it?"

"No, there are always guards around it. It just doesn't have to be us."

He nodded.

"Should we split up?"

Catherine sighed. "I wish. Mikar was clear—we're supposed to work in pairs. They threw a manticore at the borders, so who knows what it'll be next."

As she wasn't hiding her opinion that working with him wasn't her idea of fun, Bash believed he'd be in for a dull six hours.

He was mistaken.

They were walking side by side, heading south, when she stopped, head snapping left.

Bash halted next to her, frowning, as he couldn't hear anything that would have alerted her.

"What is it?"

She blinked, startled. "Sorry, nothing."

"Obviously not nothing."

She pointed in the distance, through the trees.

Bash knew his sight and hearing had improved after he'd become this thing, but he hadn't had much cause to use either yet. Following the direction she indicated, he squinted, eyes piercing through the darkness.

Then he saw it—a small brown and white owl, picking at her feathers. She was adorable, and Bash couldn't stop staring, looking at each individual feather. He realized he'd never exerted his eyes like this. He shouldn't have been able to see quite that far, and in so much detail. But it wasn't unpleasant at all.

"She's fascinating."

"Animals generally are interesting when left undisturbed. We're far enough away to observe them as they go on with their little lives."

"Do you do that often?" he asked.

She resumed her walk, and he followed, reluctantly turning away from the cute night hunter.

"Not as often as I'd like. There are things to do, lessons, assignments. But I have more time here. I got to you fast last night because I was in the woods when I smelled the blood."

"Watching owls?"

She shook her head. "Drawing ravens. Close enough."

"She draws, too!" He laughed.

"Terribly. I took it up a few days ago; give me a century or two, and perhaps my skills might extend past stick figures."

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