Shadow of the Hunter Complete

"So what do you suggest, grandmother?"

"Summon the Wild Hunt."

The entire assembly fell silent. The parliament members looked on in silent astonishment, the eldest sat with his mouth agape. Nargle's arms fell from across his chest and hung at his sides. Even Quarrel stood in dumbfounded silence.

Looks like the old bird's finally gone off her head, he thought.

The eldest was the first to speak. "Surely, you can't be serious."

"I can and I am."

"We will suffer from this course of action. What possible harm will befall the hunter or the dragon?"

"No harm will befall the dragon. He is a burr we are damned to live with so long as we share this territory with him. But the hunter, he will be called to the hunt like a moth to a flame. And he will be taken into the hunt to run with it in the outer realms, returning only when it returns to this realm."

Members of the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. The parliament sat stunned by the unconventional suggestion. They turned and spoke among themselves briefly before the eldest addressed the seer.

"But what of our losses?"

"I can't say who will be taken. Some will, that's the price to be paid. Since we know it's coming, we can take precautions to limit our losses. We will have to have some out there as bait or the hunt will tear through our homes. But with this hunter loose we will lose people through attrition. With the Hunt, we will lose at best a few, at worst many in one night. With the hunter we will lose our numbers night after night after night for who-knows-how-many years."

"What about the dragon? He has pledged his protection to the hunter."

"Why would the dragon suspect anything? Who else but the Lord of the Wild Hunt would set a hunter on us. That he is drawn up to it would follow naturally."

"And can you summon the Hunt, grandmother?"

"I can."

The seer's plan was meet with a general consensus of agreement from the crowd. The parliamentary board took their leave to discuss the matter. The seer rested near the dais and awaited their decision. Quarrel didn't care for where this was going. If this plan was accepted, he could imagine who would be among the bait. He and Nargle continued to stand at attention and waited with the rest for a decision.

The parliament returned after about an hour of debate. The plan was accepted. The Wild Hunt would be summoned on the Winter Solstice. The time was normally chaotic, with a long tradition of the Hunt running during it. It was hoped this would further mask the goblin influence. As Quarrel had feared, he and Nargle were on the list of expendables set up for the bait.

**************

Chad loaded the handgun, stowed it into his duster pocket and headed out again that night to nothing. He could find no trace of goblin activity. The snow was falling softly in big fluffy flakes. No wind stirred them in their tranquil dance. Chad made a circuit of the normal haunts. He found a few homeless out on the streets. He made what provisions he could for them and went on. But the night itself was quiet, eerily so.

On his last pass through, he encountered Ambrose. The rat's face lit up.

"Chad, so good to see you."

Chad smiled in spite of himself. "Yeah, same here. How's the scene looking?"

"It is cold, but not so bad as it has been. I do what I can, but the work seems to never end."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Ambrose seized Chad's hand and began to lead him towards a particularly nice panorama of Christmas lights. "And I thank you for what you do..."

"It's really not that much," Chad interjected.

"Perhaps not in your estimation. However, any help is greatly appreciated. But come, let us enjoy the beauty while it's on display."

Chad allowed himself to be led. They walked through a public park with lights and little houses done up for the season. Chad had to admit it was really kind of pretty.

"You a big fan of the holiday?" he asked.

Ambrose nodded, a tremendous smile on his face. "I am. It's such a pleasant time, when people at least try to give heed to their better natures. It has its faults, of course. Everything in this world does. I think the good of it far outweighs the bad, though."

Chad smiled as he remembered more of his mother's favorite book. He couldn't remember the passage exactly, but paraphrased what he could. "I've always thought of Christmas as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; a time when men and women seem by one consent to open their hearts freely, and to think of the people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race bound on other journeys."

Ambrose gazed at him, enrapt. "Yes," he said fervently. "That's it exactly."

Chad shook his head. "It's not mine. It's from a book."

"Just because somebody else set the words to paper doesn't mean it can't be your philosophy."

Chad shrugged. "I suppose." He paused, wrestling with a partially-formed thought. "It just seems so much more plausible in a book. Things never quite measure up in reality."

Ambrose tilted his head slightly, the cloth over his head making a soft noise as it moved against his fur, and gathered his hands in front of him. "This is true. But the book has the advantage of a sole voice, that of the author, where reality is made up of a multitude of voices. Every living thing contributes something to the chorus."

Chad shrugged again as his thoughts drifted with seeming relentless inevitability to unpleasantness. "So why do so many voices add ugliness to the chorus?"

Ambrose looked up into Chad's face, his gaze never faltering. "I would be wise indeed if I could answer that, and wiser still if I could correct it. I am wise enough to say this, however. The only thing either you or I can control is whatour voices add to the chorus."

Chad looked away, across the park and out into the night. "I've added my share of ugliness to the chorus."

"As have we all." Ambrose raised his hand to halt Chad's next comment. "Yes, you've added more than some, but less than others. Yes, the scars you have inflicted, as well as those inflicted upon you, will be borne long into the future. What matters more is how you bear them and what you force others to bear going forward. You have remorse, learn what you can from it. Make something better of it."

*************

Chad returned to his flop, his mind caught up in the conversation he'd had with Ambrose. He didn't sense the intruder until he was almost on top of her. He entered and was at the closet before Rin's exotic energy struck him. He whirled around from the closet to face her.

Rin lay casually sprawled out on his bed. She was on her back, her hair fanned out underneath her, completely naked. Her body begged to be touched. She tucked her legs underneath her and sat upright on her knees, her hair sweeping down her back. She brought her arms forward and leaned on them, causing her petite, well formed breasts to stand out even further.

"You know, you're a real challenge to locate. One would almost think you didn't want to be found."

"One would be correct." Chad hung his coat and went into the kitchenette across from the bed.

Rin swung her legs down and got off the bed. She swayed over to Chad. "Now, sweet thing, is that any way to treat a guest?"

Chad looked her over. She knew how to stand to accentuate all her curves. In spite of himself, he felt his cock start to take notice.

"Guests are people that are invited over. You're some stranger that broke into my apartment."

Rin leaned in as close as she could without touching him. "Strangers are friends we haven't met yet."

He took a step around her and headed for the seating area. "Or psychos who haven't gotten around to killing us yet."

Rin crossed the small room to the other chair and poured herself into it. "My, but you have a negative way of looking at things. Come, let Rin show you the nicer side of life."

"Not interested."

She gave a deep, throaty laugh and the sound of it washed over him in a sensual wave. The growing tightness in the crotch of his jeans worsened.

"Silly man. It's clear as day that you are." Rin slid from her chair to the floor and arranged herself in front of Chad's chair. Her amber eyes smoldered up at him. He fought the urge to grab himself. She looked deeply into his eyes, laid her hand on his leg and waited. He wanted to push it off, but couldn't bring himself to. She smiled and worked her hand over to the waistband of his jeans. Deftly, she had the button undone and the zipper down.

Rin eased herself further up Chad's body, her head just below his chin, and slid her hand down his pants, taking hold of his member. Her touch was both velvet soft and electrifying. Chad shifted in his chair and moaned. As he surrendered himself to the sensation an image of a grotesque spider like creature, with the torso of a human fused to the body of an enormous spider--the Jorogumo--taking Sebastian came to him. He tipped over the chair backwards in an effort to escape from Rin. She jumped back in surprise.

"What was that?" she sputtered.

Chad sat upright and took a deep breath. "It's not you, it's me."

Rin laughed again. "Now, my dear, sweet love, that's a lie on par with I love you and I won't come in your mouth." She paused, considering. "Not that you'd have much choice with me on the latter one." She added with a smirk. "And I don't need you to love me."

Chad closed his eyes and tried to drive the nightmarish images away. "Yeah, whatever."

She cocked her head at him, curious. "What was it, my sweet?" She joined him on the floor.

"What was what?"

"What was the thing you saw?" Rin sat down next to him, close but not touching.

Chad looked her over to her and debated a moment before answering. "A Jorogumo."

Rin's eyes lit up in surprise. "You hunted a Jorogumo?"

"Helped to hunt. A dragon did most of the work. I just sort of cleaned up."

Rin nodded, understanding coming into her eyes. "You saw her hunt."

Chad nodded.

She reached over and pushed Chad's hair out of his eyes. Her touch was compelling. He wanted more.

"No wonder you're so skittish. That's a horror no man should have to see." She paused again. "Well, maybe some men but that's a matter for another time."

She curved her arm around Chad's head and pulled him close to her. He let her lean his body against hers.

"But I think it's time to make some new memories to replace those. What do you think?" Rin looked suggestively at Chad.

He wanted to say "no", but just as badly he wanted to say "yes." Her scent filled his nose, and he felt he could drown in her eyes. Her skin was warm and inviting where he was pressed up against her. His mind started to form the thought to say "no" even as he was nodding his agreement. Rin smiled and covered his mouth with hers. Chad's wavering resolve melted on the spot.

He kissed her back, leaning hard into the kiss. Their tongues met, then explored each other's mouths. Her taste was just as intoxicating as her scent.

Rin slid his shirt off and ran her tongue down his chest, eliciting a shudder from Chad. When she reached his waist, her hands disappeared into the waist band of his pants and Chad felt her caress against his flesh. As his pants were removed he felt her tongue glide over his cock, followed by a languid, teasing breath across the head. He lay back on the floor, a groan escaping his lips as her warm mouth enveloped his cock. He trembled as more of his erection slipped into her mouth until her tongue playfully brushed his balls. She lingered there for a bit, her tongue exploring his testicles before they, too, were taken in.

Chad's breath escaped in a startled gasp. He looked down to where Rin was sprawled out along the floor and she winked up at him. She slowly worked her lips back down his shaft, trailing her tongue tantalizingly after. When she reached his head, she kept that in her mouth and gently sucked on it. She released the head and with the tip of her tongue teased the underside it. Sometimes her touch was barely there, a ghost of a sensation that caused shivers to run through him, and sometimes it was an intense pressure, lapping at the underside or tracing the folds of the skin. The head then disappeared again into her mouth as did the rest of his cock with a deliberate, tantalizing slowness until it was taken entirely in. It wasn't long before her prediction came to pass. A spasm of ecstasy ran through Chad as without warning he came into Rin's mouth and down her throat.

He started to apologize, but Rin winked again. He could feel her throat muscles convulse as she swallowed what was there, then she slid her mouth along his penis, sucked out what cum was left in his shaft, and kissed the tip of it.

Chad lay on the floor, spent. Rin shifted herself up on her arms and straddled them on either side of Chad's chest. Her hair fell in a fan along her face and his chest.

"Now then, love. Doesn't that give you something better to remember than some horrid Jorogumo?"

Chad wasn't one hundred percent certain what he thought. The experience had been one of the most erotic of his short life. Rin wasn't kidding when she said she knew a trick or two. Chad was reeling from the things she did. Her supernatural nature still made him uneasy. He couldn't sense any danger, but did Sebastian? Then he looked into her laughing eyes and inhaled her intoxicating scent and his thoughts immediately went to how nice another round would feel.

"Hell, I don't know."

"Well, then, we'll just have to keep going until we find out." Rin's head dipped down to give him a nimble kiss and a nibble on his lower lip. She then leveraged herself upright, balancing on the balls of her feet. She grabbed his arms and hauled him upright as she stood up. She maneuvered his arms around the well defined curve of her waist, resting on her ample hips and held them there by his hands. Walking backwards, she lead Chad back to his bed.

She laid down on her back and guided Chad on top of her. She removed his hands from her waist and set them on her breasts. Chad cupped them then slowly began to massage them. Rin's eyes fell closed as a soft exhalation left her lips. She smiled as Chad found a pleasing rhythm. He straddled her waist, and sat back on his knees.

"Should I be getting a condom?"

Rin smiled without opening her eyes. "I appreciate your concern, but not to worry. There is nothing I can get from you, nor you from me."

"You know," she continued after a short pause, "you have a nice touch, but I think we can do much more."

Rin grasped Chad's cock and stroked it. The skin on the palms of her hands was soft and drifted over him like silk. Before long, he was growing hard again. He leaned forward and placed his forearms to either side of Rin's head. He moaned softly.

"Not one for a lot of talk, eh? That's all right. I like the strong, silent type." Rin's tongue teased Chad's lip before she took another nip. Chad took the invitation and kissed her hard again on the mouth.

As their mouths met, Rin guided Chad's cock into her waiting pussy and ground her hips against him. Chad thrust hard into her and felt her vagina clamp down, nearly as insistent as her mouth and throat had been. Chad eased his way out and thrust back in. Rin twisted her hips and kept pace. The dance of their bodies continued for some time, Chad's increasing tempo always met and matched by Rin.

Chad could feel the orgasm building, his breaths came in deep gasps. Rin moaned and the sound ratcheted up as she approached her own climax. He came, his body shaking with the force of the orgasm. He rocked back onto his knees as his spine suddenly straightened.

Rin's crescendo came on the heels of his. The sound she had been making intensified into a sound Chad could not identify, but it was not human. For a brief moment her form shifted to something furred and he could see a blue flame above her head. In the next second, she was as she had been before. Rin smiled up at Chad's surprised look and stroked his stomach.

"I'll have to be careful with you, I see. It's been awhile since somebody caused me to slip out of form like that." Her hand traced lazy circles on his stomach, and it trembled in response.

"What was that?" he asked, dazed.

"That was a glimpse of my true form. You know I'm not human."

Chad nodded. "What are you?"

Rin worked her way out from under Chad. "I am not a threat to you, you have my sworn oath on that."

What Rin had said seemed important, as though she were giving him something precious. "Thank you," he said. "But it doesn't answer the question."

Rin smirked. "But it does. It answers one thing that I am. 'Not a threat.' You'll just have to be patient for the rest."

A thought struck Chad, something was out of place. "You know, when I saw the Jorogumo, I could see through her illusion. The spider shape was this kind of ghost image I saw overlaid. I don't get anything like that with you. Why?"

Rin shrugged, still smirking. "That's a good question. I'm sure you're clever enough to puzzle out an answer." She shot forward, gave Chad a playful peck on his forehead, then vanished from his bed.

*************

The weather hit a warm snap and temperatures went up to the forties, which was not uncommon for December. Chad was still unable to find the goblins; they appeared to have gone underground. Qiang was pleased with this turn of events, as it gave him an opportunity to properly school Chad in weapons craft. He explained the new direction of events over lunch.

"I'm going to tutor you on fighting."

"Why?"

"I'm not going to give you a weapon unless you know how to use it. A weapon, any weapon, is only as effective as the one who wields it."

Chad proceeded to be trained with little further comment. But his experience with Rin still unsettled him, that he couldn't see her the same way as the Jorogumo. He hadn't seen her in the week since their previous encounter, but in her absence the questions continued to bother him.

"I gotta question," Chad said. He was in Qiang's lair, resting between mock fights with Qiang. He was dressed in light cotton gi pants and a t-shirt. Chad didn't like the way the gi top fit.

"I hope I have an answer," Qiang responded.

"When I saw the Jorogumo, I saw her as a human but the spider parts were there as a kind of ghost image. And Ambrose I always see as a rat. But there's this, uh, person I guess, that I see as human. But the other night we were, um...engaged, and suddenly, for like a second, she was covered in fur. Then it was gone. What I can't figure is why I don't see her the same as the Jorogumo."

Qiang crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow to Chad. "First off, engaged? With a female? Really, Chad, I wasn't born blind and stupid last week. I know what sex is and I'm not surprised you're having it. Just be very, very careful. That being said, what is she? That's going to impact how you perceive her."

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you."

"Ah. I see. How are you perceiving her?"

Chad shrugged, and his eyes became unfocused as he called up the memory. "I can sense she's not human, and that she's not a threat. Her smell is really...nice. Kinda like spice of some kind. And she always seems to be laughing somehow." His attention refocused. "I can sometimes see what's different, physically, and I always know what's not human, and I get impressions about them. I don't get annotated encyclopedia entries."

Qiang brought his hand up and rubbed his jaw. "Then, do you see a dragon overlay on me?"

Chad shook his head. "Not like the Jorogumo. I can tell there's a dragon there, but there's not a ghost image."

Qiang nodded. "Was there one when you were a gold finch?"