SSS 07: Creature Feature by Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin

Author:Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin [Martin, Gail Z. & Martin, Larry N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Falstaff Books
Published: 2020-10-03T22:00:00+00:00

5

I wish I had more to tell you, but that’s all I know,” Cory Caldwell told me the next morning. “Max and I weren’t there for the takedown. The Huntsman had some magical protections to keep him from being noticed and keep his prisoners under control, but in the end, an old-fashioned beatdown subdued him, and he got packed off to a Tribunal. Not much else to say.”

“Thanks, Cory,” I replied, knowing it wasn’t his fault that the story didn’t give me the answer I was hoping to get.

“Look—I know you wanted a ritual or a weapon that was like a silver bullet for Huntsmen, but maybe it’s good news that there isn’t one.”

“Say what?”

“He’s just a man, Mark. Human. Not a demon or a monster or even necessarily a witch. Compared to what you usually hunt, it shouldn’t be too hard to stop him,” Cory reasoned.

“Start thinking like that, and you get bushwhacked,” I warned. Overconfidence makes for dead hunters.

Cory sighed. “That’s not what I meant. Just…don’t overthink this. It sounds like you’ve got the help you need to cover all your bases. I wish we were closer to lend a hand.”

“Thanks, but we need someone to keep the Finger Lakes safe from monsters,” I joked.

“Yeah, well. Watch your back and let us know how it turns out. I’ll tell Max you said hi.”

I ended the call and drained the rest of my coffee in one gulp. Simon Kincaide had emailed me everything he could find about Huntsmen, and he’d called in help from his contacts as well. He hadn’t had any game-changing insights, which sucked because no matter how Cory tried to spin the bright side of this, I didn’t feel prepared. I liked going into a fight believing we were bringing the shock and awe, and other than some new ammo I was itching to try out, I had bupkis.

I was due at the church in a couple of hours, right after dinner. We were meeting the stregone, Ricardo Arcuri, and working out a game plan to find the Huntsman and stop him before he could snatch any more cryptids or go after the werewolves again. In the meantime, Chiara was making a Hail Mary pass at research, and both Otto and Tristan were working their networks to see if anyone had a whisper of where the guy might strike next.

Lorenzo had rallied his supporters among the Pittsburgh vampire Mob, especially after another of their family had gone missing—under circumstances that practically screamed “Huntsman.” That seemed to get them off their undead asses. As long as whoever hired the Huntsman existed and could pay his fee, the rest of the nest—and the truce—was in danger.

Hell, for all I knew, the Huntsman might not really work for whoever thought they hired him. If this was a big fucking conspiracy, maybe the shadow powers were paying the bill—or the hitmen were getting paid twice. Figuring out their payroll problems wasn’t my job. I had monsters to save—and human scum to stop.

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