The carriage ride was uneventful, and by that, I mean it was boring as hell. I like being able to look out and see the landscape, but the length of my journey meant I had to leave while it was still daylight so I could arrive with enough darkness to burn so I could get started right away. The short notice meant there wasn’t a car available at my departure point with UV blocking glass, so I had to sit inside with blinds and curtains completely blocking the outside light, lest it burn my retinas and give me a nasty case of solar rash. If that wasn’t bad enough, the interior lighting needed to be repaired as it stopped working about a third of the way along my journey. I could see well enough in low light, all of my species could, but the key word here is low light, as in needing to have at least a tiny bit.
I was more than ready to get out of the carriage by the time the train pulled into the depot. The train had made excellent time, the AI not having to stop because of an obstruction along the guide path or some sort of mechanical failure happening or anything like that, thankfully. I’d actually been worried about that, as the humans were well known to not use the lines for personal travel, preferring to use beasts to ride or pull them along in wagons and such. The lines stopped only at the three largest of the human settlements; at depots where trade goods were loaded and unloaded by the human merchants conducting what little trade we did have between our kind, and I understood that was infrequent.
I stepped out into the gloaming, noting that the only two people I could see appeared to be waiting for me. Within moments of my alighting, my pack over my shoulder, the train resumed its journey, the cargo on the few laden cars obviously destined for one of the other settlements.
I mentally corrected my assumption about the two men when I saw the expression one of them wore at the sight of me. He had a look of surprise writ large over his broad features.
“This is real, right? This is why we’re here so late? We’re meeting one of them?” he asked.
The second fellow threw him a look of mild irritation. “Now, Richard, that’s not very polite, is it? He’s standin’ right there and can hear you plain as day. Besides, I’d never josh about something like this.”
Richard had the good grace to flush, the acrid tang of his embarrassment filling the air, carried towards me by the gentle breeze that teased my locks and kissed my skin.
“No offense taken,” I cut in, not wanting to make any enemies among those I’d be working with. The second man thrust out a hand towards me.
“Sorry about that. Most folks have never exactly seen one of your people in the flesh, me included, and I didn’t tell him we were meeting ya until just now.” I looked down at his hand, uncertain of what he wanted me to do with it. “Oh, right,” he said, pulling his hand back. “You don’t shake hands, do you?”
Ah! He’d expected me to take his hand and move it about, in a sort of greeting. I put my own hand out. “We do not, but I’m in your territory so your customs rule,” I replied with a smile. He faltered for a split second before taking my hand and moving it up and down, his eyes fastened on my mouth. I carefully covered the tips of my fangs with my upper lip, realizing he must find them unsettling. Richard most certainly did, as he took a half step back, a sharp scent of fear now emanating from him.
“I’m Sheriff Kelly Townsend,” the handsome man said as he slowly pumped my hand. “You can just call me Kelly, though,” he added, a dimple appearing in one cheek as he unexpectedly smiled. It turned the dark-haired man from a good-looking man into a very attractive one; the way his face lit up and his eyes twinkled transforming him into someone I’d look twice at if on the lookout for some company. His own scent was friendly, albeit a bit nervous, and I could smell something else – an awakening of interest. “Ha, I guess I should probably let go now,” he added, releasing my hand with a small rueful glint in his eyes. “This guy here is my deputy.”
“Richard!” Richard blurted out, as if I hadn’t heard the sheriff address him earlier. I waited but neither man gave me Richard’s other name.
Instead the sheriff said, “I’m sorry if we seem ill-prepared, but when I asked Councilman Roe to get me some support services, I was not expecting him to reach out to y'all and have a hunter sent. In fact, they only told me a few hours ago that you were even coming.”
I nodded. “I found out just before it was time for me to head out to catch the train. I was up doing some early training with my brother so thankfully it didn’t take me long to get ready.”
The sheriff – Kelly, I reminded myself to call him – scratched his cheek. “They didn’t send you with a beast,” he observed. He sighed. “They didn’t tell me to bring you a ride, neither. I hope you don’t mind riding with me. My Winnie’s a sturdy one and can easily carry us both.”
My brother would laugh his ass off if he was here. He’d be thinking of things to say to needle me about riding with my crotch plastered against the handsome human’s ass as we rode, no doubt each word filled with innuendo. I imagined it, then, inwardly cringing as the thought came to me that if he were here, he’d be having to ride pillion with poor Richard, who’d probably never recover from the ridiculous things my brother would tell him as they rode, enjoying himself thoroughly as he teased the poor unsuspecting man.
“I don’t mind at all,” I replied, “and you can call me Pilar.” I gave him a rueful smile. “I think my House name would be too large a mouthful.”
“I’ll take your pack, Pilar,” Richard offered, finding his confidence. I handed it to him. It only held some rations for me, as the kitchen had supplied me with enough extra to last me three or four days at a push, as well as a few changes of clothes. My sword and daggers were on me, of course; my sword across my back and my daggers at my hips.
“Thank you,” I said, doing my best to infuse the words with warmth, wishing to reassure him that I genuinely wasn’t the mythical monster of their mythology.
He gave me a grin that actually reached his eyes. “No problem.” Kelly didn’t say anything else. After watching our exchange, he simply turned to walk towards the two beasts tethered nearby and Richard and I followed, hoping that the awkwardness of our meeting didn’t bode ill for the rest of my time here. As for the sheriff’s interest, well, I wasn’t certain how I felt about that anymore than he himself probably did. He was handsome, gorgeous even when he smiled, but I was here for a job and the tensions between our two people could make even a casual fling while I was here fraught with complications, with unknown repercussions on the job at hand. The dead came first. They deserved justice and if the person responsible for their deaths was planning another kill, I needed to make sure he didn’t succeed.
I smiled grimly as I mounted up behind Kelly. The hunter was about to discover what it truly meant to be Hunted, and I had never lost a prey.