Two

YEAR 3555

*CHARLES*

"Oh, come on, Charles." Jessica whined, Why is Blaire always first choice? Because she's your daughter?"

"She is my first choice because she is a better hunter than any of you. She's killed more than any of you, and she hasn't even been branded with our crest yet. And she's the best because she is my daughter." Charles stared down at the entire hunter council that he presided over. "She is a raiser. Do you want a history lesson on what that name means?"

"No. Charles, we just... we don't know where she is right now. She should be branded before she is sent off on such an important hunt." Mark said, looking at each person while he spoke. Charles was a monster of a man. You could see how pure hunter blood ran through him. He was the size of most alpha werewolves. He stood six foot six inches with massive muscular arms and chest. He looked like a tank.

"You can't find her? My daughter? You can't find Blaire?" Charles' face was getting red with anger, "how can you lose a girl like that?"

"She's...independent."

"Find her and tell her she has a job to do." Charles came down from what was on the verge of being a very explosive amount of yelling.

"Yes, sir. But the council has decided that she needs to be branded and do the ceremony well before she can go on this hunt. You may be the president, but you do not overrule our unanimous votes. Branding and ceremony. If she is to do this job, then we need to unleash the entire amount of power that the hunter lines keep hidden." This time, it was Xavia talking. She was middle-aged with brown hair sparkling with silver-gray hairs. She was a great warrior. You could see the scars across her bare arms and one that went down the left side of her face from her temple to her jaw. It required a lot of stitches. Besides Charles, no one ever argued with her. She was battle hardened.

"I am not arguing this fact. I know that the ceremony and branding need to be done. She will be sent after a very powerful alpha. If there is anyone in this pack who can..." Charles said, but was cut off my Xavia.

"Can do it. It is, indeed, your daughter. No one here disputes her talent, her abilities, or anything to do with hunting. We do not do it to your face, nor behind your back. She is a far better hunter than any of the younger hunters. In fact, she may be the best one we've had in decades, no offense to you, Charles." Xavia's face never changed expressions as she spoke. "She is better than I was."

"I agree." Mark added.

"So do I." Charles admitted proudly. His daughter was his entire world.

"So it is settled then?" Xavia asked, "she will be branded, and the ceremony will happen before she is sent to disbatch another monster. Alphas always take a lot of work."

"This alpha is unique. It comes from a blood born line. One not created by the virus all those years ago." Jessica said, "so it's not just any alpha. And yes, Blaire is absolutely the most equipped of the hunters to take him out, but she hasn't come up against a blood born alpha before. Most of us haven't. They're not very common anymore, or they stay well hidden."

"Find my daughter. Prepare the ceremony. I want it done as soon as possible. These types of wolves tend to populate quickly. They have a hundred percent successful change rate. Unlike the virus created ones that it's more like two out of every three infected with the lycanthropy will successfully change. The other dies. And it's more like one out of every three for virus created vampires." Charles said as if no one else knew the statistics of vampirism and lycanthropy.

"Yes, sir." Everyone else said in unison upon standing and leaving the council room. Xavia stayed behind, and they waited for everyone to exit.

"Sir." A voice said, coming in the door way, "Blaire got stuck by a storm in Ashford. It looks like she will be another two days out before getting back here. It was a pretty rough sand storm."

"Damnit. Alright. Thank you." Charles growled, "you can go. Shut the doors behind you."

The young messenger shut the large doors and hurried away. Charles turned to Xavia and slid one of his large fingers gently down the scar of her face. Then kissed her forehead.

"I can not leave my husband." She said gently into his chest.

"I know. I can not leave my wife. We are bound by duty."

"Duty is so hard to follow when love stands in the way." Xavia's voice was soft and saddened now as Charles wrapped himself around her tightly.

"I know it is."

"Why have we not changed some of our customs?" She said, her voice catching in her throat, "allow us to love, marry, and be with whomever we want."

"You know why we can't change those rules."

"It's ridiculous. It's all ridiculous."

"We can risk inbreeding. That's why he kept such a strong track of the genetic lines. Hunter genetics aren't very widespread, and only about twenty-five percent of those born to a hunter and non-hunter parent end up with the hunter genetics. We are a dying species, and we can't risk inbreeding. I am so sorry. You know I love you. I would love to be with you, but for sake of all humanity... We can't disobey those laws."

"What we need is to get ahold of that lab that tested and first discovered the hunter genes, your ancestors' genes. Figure out how to create more hunters. The reason blood born werewolves are showing up again is because hunter numbers are dwindling. You and your daughter are the only surviving relatives of the Raiser line, the original hunters. We need to preserve your genetics."

"My love... I know this. It is on my list of to do's, first we will get Blaire branded and do the ceremony and prep her for this hunt. And while she is gone, we'll put a team together to send in to clear out that laboratory and see what we can do. I agree we are dwindling, and my bloodline does need to be preserved. We will work on that as well."

"Get your daughter to marry soon? Begin having children. The sooner, the better." Xavia added, and he nodded.

**********

*BLAIRE*

"Well, hello there, gorgeous." A man from somewhere in the crowded room said as Blaire took a seat at the bar. Blaire was gorgeous and sexy. She was covered in tattoos, though her right arm strictly held a feather tattoo, which was her particular hunter's crest. She had long brown hair, green eyes, and porcelain skin. She had a tone, tight body, large breasts, and a great butt. She was all around just attractive to a higher degree. Part of the attraction was that she had hunter genes. Like vampires and werewolves, hunters had this sexual attraction around them that couldn't be explained. Her right nostril was peirced, and both of her ears from the lobes all the way up were peirced.

"Hey Sammy." She smiled and greeted the bar tender.

"Hey, Sugar. Whatcha out hunting this time?" Sammy was a sweet woman a little more than middle-aged who owned and ran the bar called 'Sammy's Goodtime.' It started out as a brothel more than anything, but the women got tired of being treated poorly by the men, and so it became just a bar.

"Vampire coven just a few hours north of here." Sammy poured a double of spiced run into a glass, and Blaire picked up staring at the deep amber liquid.

"Hey," Marlow, a rival hunter, said sitting beside Blaire. "What are you up to today?"

"Well, I was trying to enjoy a hunt well done, but you had to scurry over here and ruin it like the rat you are." Marlow was a very attractive guy, girls fell all over themselves to be with him, and he loved that attention, but he loved the insults from Blaire more than any compliment any girl could give him.

"Oh yeah, the hunt you stole from me?"

"I didn't steal jack shit from you, Marlow. You just suck."

"Yeah... I think you suck as well." He smiled and winked at her, and she rolled hers. She shot back her rum, paid Sammy, and left.

When she got to her cabin just on the outside of the little village, she stripped off her clothes almost immediately and got into the shower. She wasn't in there very long when she was joined.

"I was wondering if you were going to show up." She said to Marlow as he wrapped his naked body around hers. They began to kiss each other, her arms around his neck and shoulders. He lifted one of her legs up and pushed himself into her. She let moan and then continued with the moaning as he thrust himself into her. He pulled out, flipped her around, and pinned her into the shower wall before pushing deep into her once again.

He wrapped one arm around her waist and another around her chest to grope one of her breasts. She reached behind her and tangled her fingers into his black hair. He continued to fuck her hard and fast fueled by her moans.

Of all the women he would have sex with, she was his favorite. She was the only one who'd get wild, who would experiment and who didn't try to marry him. In fact, to her he was just someone to have sex with. It didn't bother him at first, but the more they slept together the more he cared for her, feelings she didn't reciprocate. But despite his feelings, he couldn't stop fucking her.

He released a deep moan when he came and then pulled back away from her. She turned around out of breath and smiled. "Thank you for that."

"Yeah you're welcome. Thank you." He said not smiling as widely as she was.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh I just...haven't seen you for awhile, and I know you uh, well you don't go long without sex...So I'm just curious...if you uh..."

"You're wanting to know if I've fucked someone else since you and I a few months ago?"

"Yeah."

"Yes. I have. A few people actually. Just like you have a few people other than me. Please don't go trying to do this whole let's be monogamous stuff. We're not dating. We're not a couple. We literally hook up whenever we find ourselves in the same place. That's it. Nothing more." She turned off the shower visibly annoyed now.

"I wasn't..." He started and she got out.

"Yes you were."

"Blaire...I just..."

"What? You just what, Marlow? You're part of a rival hunter family. I don't know where in the world we all split up, but we did. You are going to assigned a spouse soon, you've been branded. You've done your ceremony and now it's only a matter of time. I haven't been branded yet, I haven't done my ceremony and I won't be assisgned a spouse for another decade or so. Not until I'm thirty-five."

"So you're saying you just want to have fun until then? Just fuck anyone you want whenever you want? Be a slut?" He started yell, she was getting angry.

"Exactly. If I want to be a slut and fuck anyone at anytime, then I damn will do it if I so please. No one has a say in that. Not my dad. Not the council. And definetly not fucking you." Blaire wrapped a black, well-used towel around her body and left the bathroom. Marlow wrapped one around his waist and followed her out. "Seriously? This is ridiculous. We agreed that it would be just casual sex when we were alone just passing by."

"Yeah and it's been what five years now that we've been doing this? Don't you think it's a bit tiring? Don't you want something more out of someone?"

"No. No I fucking don't. Not right now. I have time. Hunters live about three hundred years if they're not decapitated, but as a Raiser, I have more time than that. A hell of a lot more. The only reason my father and I are the last genetic line of Raiser's is because of all those vampire covens coming together and eradicating most of my family. I'm not going to settle down before I have to. I don't want to be with anyone. I just don't. I want sex and to kill monsters. Super simple, I'm not asking for a lot out of life. To kill and be fucked. If that isn't enough for you then you need to walk out of here right now and don't ever expect to get between my damn legs again."

"Blaire..." He knew arguing with her would be useless. She said what she said and she meant it and it was nearly impossible to get her to change her mind.

"Marlow..." She said dropping the towel and facing him, "so... are you gonna drop this whole relationship thing and fuck me again or should I get dressed and go to bed and we call what we are doing right now quits? For good."

"Shit." He breathed out tossing his towel to the side closing the distance between them and the bed.

"That's what I thought." Blaire said laying on her back, her mouth barely an inch from his.

"Shut up." He said shoving his hard length into her aggressively, obviously angrily.