My sword clanged against Miljack’s, making me smile. I’d nearly had him then.
“Call it a draw?” he asked me.
We had been sparring long enough for us to both be drenched in sweat, the other Hunters who practiced in the ring having long since finished. As always, we were the last, so evenly matched in swordsmanship that it was rare for one of us to be able to disarm the other.
“Fine, if you’ll buy the beer tonight,” I offered.
Miljack grimaced. “Okay, deal,” he replied grudgingly. My twin never did like conceding. “I’ll buy the beer if you fetch our clothes from the laundry.”
I laughed, knowing full well why he didn’t want to be the one to do that particular chore. “Limnia still angling for a repeat?” I asked, lowering my sword.
He did likewise, looking chagrined. “Worse. One tumble and he’s decided it means we’re ready to sit down and plan a bonding ceremony!”
I guffawed, bending over double. Only my brother could manage to find himself in such trouble.
“It’s not funny!” he huffed. “What am I going to do?”
I wiped a mirthful tear from the corner of one eye, straightening up. “Instead of fucking around, maybe find someone to actually court?” I suggested. “Limnia would surely get the message then that you weren’t interested in anything long term.”
“He should have bloody gotten the message when all I did was let him suck me off behind the tavern, thanked him, then left while he was still jerking himself off.”
I shook my head. “You really can be an asshole,” I informed him.
He shrugged. “It’s kept me from becoming entangled thus far,” he said. I stared at him pointedly. “Okay, until now,” he amended sheepishly.
“Pilar!” a voice bellowed.
I turned, recognizing the voice.
“Shit, what does the Hand want with you?” my brother asked me worriedly.
“I have no idea,” I answered, my voice low. To be truthful, I was worried. This was the man serving directly under our Master while I was still a low-ranked Hunter. For him to come looking for me personally, well, let’s just say I was busy racking my brain trying to figure out what the hell I’d done to get his attention. “Sir!” I called out, hurrying over to what was no doubt my doom.
His lips curved into a small smile as I skidded to a stop before him. He tilted his head, regarding me. “So it’s true,” the Hand said. “You’re an omega.”
Of course that was what this was about. No doubt when last week’s promotion list came out, some offspring of one of the higher lords had complained that an omega had ‘stolen’ the title of Hunter from him. Every quarter, there was a competition to see who merited the title and only three would be chosen from the dozens who tried. This time, both my twin and I had made up two of the three. I was the first omega to ever achieve the honor within our House and only the third ever to do so in our kingdom.
“A very good looking one, as well,” the Hand mused, causing me to stiffen further, trying to quell my sense of outrage. “That bodes well.”
Wait, what?
“Bodes well for what, sir?” I asked carefully.
He waved his hand. “For your assignment,” he replied, his eyes sparkling. “It’s all very exciting.”
“It is?” My twin placed his hand on my shoulder. “What is our task?”
The Hand pursed his lips. “Oh, no. You’re not both assigned. I know as the alpha, you usually work with your twin, but this is a special case. A very special case indeed. In fact, the High Lord has specifically said that you’re to depart immediately.” He wrinkled his nose. “After a shower, of course.”
Miljack looked mutinous. “Surely the High Lord does not suggest my brother work alone! He’s strong and skilled, but what if he comes up against more than one person?”
“He should be fine. The humans asked for a Hunter, not a team of Hunters and you know how rattled they must be if they have asked for our assistance.”
That was the understatement of the century. When their colony ship arrived here a few centuries ago, they’d been shocked to discover that yes, indeed, they were not the only sentient beings in the universe. They decided to land anyway as their generation ship was coming to its end of useful service, and a deal was struck giving them some land.
That sounds fine and dandy, doesn’t it? Only it turns out that when they met some of my kind in person, we freaked them out. It seems that we closely resemble some mythical creature they call a vampire. Fangs, drink a bit of blood, heightened senses, faster movements, oh, and we can do a bit of what they consider magic. It’s not magic, of course, it’s a mental manipulation of the etheric field that surrounds everything. They can’t sense that or manipulate so, ta da, magic.
Add in the facts relating to our reproductive system, and nope, they didn’t want to have much to do with us. Not until they started having omegas born, that is, more and more of them until no more female offspring were birthed that survived. First they accused us of having done something to cause the issue. Then they accepted the cause was something on the planet that caused the adaptation and expected us to ‘fix it’. Of course, we had no idea of how to reverse it, and the etheric fields around the surviving offspring showed them to be normal.
Unhappy that neither of us had the tech to pursue the matter further and that we couldn’t ‘create a spell’ to reverse it, they mostly ignored us unless they needed something. Usually it was trade goods or the advice of a healer. This was a first, as far as I knew. “They asked for a Hunter?”
“Yes, indeed. Someone is killing omegas down there and even strangers; until now, no one knew who the dead even were. They need you to come down and hunt out where the first two dead came from and catch the culprits.”
“They couldn’t figure it out?” Miljack asked in disbelief. “And how did they not know who the first two humans were? There aren’t that many of them!”
“More than you think, and all spread out,” the Hand replied. “But yes, they are quite puzzled as to why no one knows who they are either.”
“I request officially that Miljack be allowed to accompany me. Some of the human alphas may respond better to him.”
“Denied.” The Hand gave me a reassuring look. “You go on in and if once there you feel it’s a job for a team, call in and we’ll send him down. They asked for one Hunter and we don’t want to ruffle too many feathers by sending in two.” He scoffed. “They’d probably decide we were looking for a way to infiltrate them so they will fall under our rule.”
If they couldn’t keep track of their people and keep them from being killed, that might not be a bad thing, I decided.
“Come on, Pilar,” Miljack said. “You grab a quick shower and I’ll pack a bag for you and call down to the kitchen for some rations.”
I looked at him gratefully. It really would be horrible to be in human territory without any blood to ingest.
“Sir,” I saluted the Hand, along with my brother. He saluted us back and we took our leave.