Page 22 of Blood of a Huntsman

Cat stared at him for a good long while. She didn't think she'd paid much attention to him before, in a specific kind of way. She'd glanced. She knew his smell and his presence. She knew he was handsome, well-built, and muscular. But that was about it.

Now she noticed his eyes. Amber. Hair darker, not quite brown. A tattoo peeked from under the sleeve of his T-shirt.

"Music," she said. "I like to listen to music. And play it. Badly," she added, to be accurate.

"You should play with me someday. I wager you'd improve. I could tutor you in violin, piano, singing—"

Cat glared at Bash.

"For what price?"

Before Alexius spelled out the gross reply she could foresee, Levi clapped his hands, demanding attention, as he stood before a throne-like chair at the very center of the room.

A familiar scene.

"All right. I believe we're all here. Word travels fast, so you know there's been an attack. Myself, Mikar, and Alexius have all examined the bodies, but it's Jack's area of expertise, so let's hear it."

Cat frowned, confused. But Levi had sat back down, letting Jack take the stage.

“Was it a shadowclaw?” Alexius asked.

Jack shook his head. “No, there’s no venom in the wound.”

“A nightfang, then.”

“With your permission, sir, I’ll speak now.”

Cat’s respect for Jack went up a notch; he managed to shut up Alexius Helsing. Not a small feat.

“My huntsmen know the drill—not sure about you guys, so to make it simple: ‘demon’ is a general term that encompasses too many creatures. Some were made by the gods to fight their battles and guard their homes, yes. But some weren't made at all; they were brought here.”

"From the gods' world?" Chloe asked.

Jack nodded.

"Yes. Dragons, selkies, chimera. Whether as pets or just because the gods liked having a living zoo in their transports, those creatures traveled from another realm. The monsters from the old world are considerably more powerful than your average hellhound. I'm by no means a demon expert, but I have one on speed dial. According to my father, the speed of the creature and the marks left on the remains suggest it might have been the work of a greater demon. A manticore, specifically. If he's right, and Rakiel usually is, capturing it will be extremely difficult, and killing it, impossible for us. It's fast, tonight proved as much, but manticores are also extremely clever. There's a reason behind the legends of ingenious sphinxes. Whatever trap we can think of, it will have anticipated it."

"I think," Cat said, as Jack paused in his demonology lesson, "that we should focus less on the manticore itself and more on what it could want here. If it's as clever as you say, why hunt here, with dozens of immortals behind the gate? Unless it likes a challenge, it was probably sent here."

The entire room was listening intently.

Cat wasn't used to being listened to. Especially not in a conclave. Actually, this didn't feel like a conclave at all. More like her weekly naughty book club with her cousins, despite the severity of the situation. Just a discussion between…perhaps not friends, but allies. Equals.

"Good point, but the answer is obvious," Levi said. "As there have been no attacks on our borders for centuries, and in the space of a handful of months, we suffer two, we can only deduce that they're related. Those who got through our gates in March are trying to test the borders now that we've made it harder for them to get in."

"Harder? How so?" Tris asked.

Levi exchanged a glance with his peers, Alexius and Anika. This wasn't a point they'd wanted to discuss here, with so many ears. And her presence was probably the reason why.

Cat understood that. She was a Stormhale. And that made her their enemy. Potentially. Probably.

She shifted uncomfortably.

To her surprise, he answered after a beat.

"We've reworked the way our wards work." Levi smiled. "Well, those we haven't killed. Before March, any resident of Oldcrest could invite someone through the gates. Now, the invitation must come from a current resident of Night Hill. A traitor among us let in those ferals and vampires, and we couldn't afford a repeat of that. The access to our territory of anyone, except Institute students and current residents of Oldcrest, has been revoked. We have a blank state, and security in place to avoid another breach."

Cat stilled. She opened her mouth, but no words would come.

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