Page 8 of Finn
Finishing my coffee, I left them at the table and went to join the other junior hunters gathered outside the Elders’ hall, waiting for our names to be called.
One by one, names were summoned, and I watched as they went in, anticipation and dread pooling in my gut.
Finally, my name echoed down the hall, and I found myself facing Elder Marcus and Elder Anastasia.
I sat down, feeling like I was being called into the principal’s office.
Elder Anastasia gave me a smile, thin and tight-lipped, her dark eyes almost reptilian.
“Finn, it’s good to see you,” she said, the false sweetness in her voice sending a chill down my spine.
“Thank you,” I said, keeping my tone as polite as possible. “I’m looking forward to my assignment.”
“Are you now?” She flashed another of those smiles, the kind that made you want to take a step back.
Marcus slid a thick file across the desk toward me. I picked it up, feeling the weight of their eyes, and opened it.
I flipped open the file, hoping for some sort of useful information.
But there was hardly anything: a sparse description of my target, no name. Just an alias, a contact to speak with, and coordinates to a location.
The lack of any details gnawed at me, but I knew better than to question them too closely.
I studied the text, the words blurring for a moment as my mind tried to catch up with what they were actually assigning me.
According to the file, this target was a member of the Craven Hill Nest. Just reading the name made my blood run cold.
It was the third largest vampire nest in the country and it was infamous even among seasoned hunters.
From the little intel I’d managed to gather over the years, Craven Hill was ruled by an ancient vampire queen with a vast network of powerful allies, both supernatural and human.
The nest's members were rumored to have deep political and economic ties.
And now, they were sending me, a lone junior hunter fresh from training, into one of the most dangerous vampire nests in the country?
My heart beat harder as I tried to make sense of it.
I’d expected them to send me after a rogue shifter or maybe a single vampire operating on their own, something manageable for a hunter still earning his stripes.
But this? A powerful vampire in Craven Hill?
I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Elders were either testing me in the most brutal way possible or setting me up for something I wasn’t supposed to survive.
The mission felt both reckless and insulting. The Elders knew this.
They knew that if I didn’t plan meticulously, if I didn’t outthink every possible outcome, my death was all but guaranteed.
I felt a faint heat simmering under my skin. Was it anger, fear? Maybe both.
This wasn’t typical, I thought, grinding my teeth, but I wasn’t surprised.
Unlike Asher and Donovan, the Elders had never been fond of me.
“A vampire, huh?” I tried to keep my voice neutral as I glanced back up, but they were both watching me, expressions unreadable.
“Yes,” Elder Marcus said, his voice as hollow and unfeeling as his gaze. “We consider this target an immediate threat that needs to be eliminated.”
“An immediate threat?” I echoed, feigning a confidence I didn’t quite feel.
