Hunting Season Ch. 05

"As long as you wear this, and do what they tell you, you will be fine. If you ever take it off then you know what will happen." I told her and she nodded, her hand coming up to nervously stroke the band around her neck.

"Thank you again, for everything." Xin said, and I caught Song Bird's glare of hatred from over her shoulder.

"You are welcome. You are a good girl Xin, you deserve to be happy." I told her as I moved to the door. I looked to Song Bird "Clean her and yourself up. I will see myself out."

I stepped out of the elevator and back into the living room where Dan sat at his desk. "Another successful training session?" He asked with a smile. Of course he had watched everything, just for curiosity if nothing else.

"Yes, Hummingbird is now conditioned to her new situation. Don't take off that drug collar, although if you need to punish her you can dial it down as you need to." I replied as I settled into the leather sofa.

"And Song Bird, she seems to have adapted well." He continued, steepling his fingers and looking at me with clinical interest.

"She will do whatever she has to in order to survive, I have seen to that. Now that Hummingbird is here, she is less likely to try to escape. She won't abandon her, but I would make sure not to have them together in an unsecure setting." I said as I sipped my scotch.

"Good, good. I am glad you convinced me to let you work on Song Bird, this has been a very beneficial arrangement. Now, what about the rest of the flock? I have more room in my cage you know."

"I am going to target Cardinal next, but I will need help from The Tinkerer. I may actually need him in person." I said and Dan grunted.

"That will be hard, you know how he hates field work. I will see what I can do."

I nodded and sipped my scotch, planning my next hunt. "I might know what we can use to convince him."