13.

  Cole and Benny were making their way to the first level of the Academy basement. Benny gripped his weapon with nerve, and though Cole wasn’t showing it, he was a bit nervous as well. With their introduction to the Academy completed, now came the time for the first hunt. Being that they were rookies, despite any raw natural talent they may have shown in combat classes, or knowledge and know-how they displayed in lectures, the first hunt was a sacrosanct tradition for those training to be hunters. The first hunt was what separated the future Demon Hunters, from the mere students. Not all who were studying in these hallowed halls were destined to be on the front lines of the war between the above and below. Students who didn’t have the backbone, temperament, or necessary skill for combat, were weeded out by way of the Academy’s hunts. They could still go on to fight for the side of light in their own ways though. The war didn’t just need fighters, it needed scholars, healers, merchants, and craftsmen. The profession of Demon Hunter wasn’t for everyone, but those other professions were still just as needed.

  That said, the first hunt was what let the professors know who they should bother spending their time in tutelage. All the breeding and family legacy in the world couldn’t help you here, nothing could help you the first time you came face to face with a Demon while holding nothing but your weapon in your hand.

  “Can we die doing this? The Hunters I met told me that the academy could be dangerous sometimes,” Benny said, looking down.

  “Is this ‘can we die dangerous?’ No,” Cole shook his head, “But we still got to perform, we’ll be fighting Demons that the Hunters have already captured, they release them in the bottom caverns, and we have to use what we’ve learned in class to track them and used what we learned in training to kill them ourselves. They know our skill level so they likely haven’t decided to throw something too harrowing at us, besides, you can choose what you fight,” Cole said.

  “Wait, what?” Benny asked, “I thought we would be going off campus, hunting real demons, that’s what we’re supposed to be learning here right, how to hunt?” he asked.

  “We’re newbies, sure if we went on a true hunt, we might get lucky. That said, the Academy doesn’t want to go get their students killed. True Demon Hunts are too wild an affair to introduce us too right away,” Cole sighed, “You don’t have to worry, it’s a controlled environment,” he said, “So the question is what should we pick?” Cole asked.

  “Wait? Pick? What do you mean?” Benny asked.

  “They’re not going to send a class of thirty hunters against one Demon, first point is it would be too easy, the second point is that there would be too many arguments over dividing the loot,” Cole said.

  “Loot? Do we get loot? Like a video game?” Benny asked.

  “Oh yeah, how do you think Hunter’s make a living? You kill demons and pretty much every part of them can be sold to traders, other hunters, alchemists, smiths,” Cole said.

  “I don’t know what half of those jobs are,” Benny looked down, “I am completely out of my element,” he said, bringing his hand to his head.

  “Hey, you’re going to do fine,” Cole said, giving him a pat on the back.

  “I couldn’t do anything when a Demon had my mom, and now I’m supposed to kill one,” Benny said, “Believe me, if I was able to kill a Demon I would have done it a long time ago,” he said.

  “You’re learning, we all are, truth be told, haven’t done the deed myself yet either,” Cole said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “But you’re from that big demon hunter family, you haven’t done it yet? I would think that you would be killing demons every summer,” Benny said.

  “I’ve gone on a few hunts, this one-time Dad rounded up some Insectoids and promised a new weapon to whoever killed the most. Being the youngest of seven, the least experienced, I was only able to get a few hits in, Colin, my third oldest, took down half a dozen of them. Dad let him get the weapon he still uses to this day Ghost Walker, I was always so jealous, my oldest brother Cecil’s weapon is of the highest quality, a custom job forged by the angels themselves, but there’s something about Colin’s Blaze Ragger. I always wanted my own weapon, I know exactly what it would need, what I’ll be asking for when I get my custom job if I get a custom job,” Cole said.

  “Man, isn’t your family rich or something? I figured with how much everyone tries to get in your business you must be rich or something,” Benny asked.

  “We’re not rich. By Mortal World standards, you could say we’re comfortable, we got a farm in Tennessee that does alright. We grow apples, and some other crops, it’s a big piece of land but the profitability isn’t as high as you would think. It’s actually kind of a faux paux for Demon Hunters to acquire too much wealth in the Mortal World, the Order thinks that wealth could bring undue attention to our lives,” Cole said, “In this world, to these people, my father is one of the greatest and most legendary Demon Hunters of all time, but to the Mortal World, we’re just humble apple farmers, we live a comfortable life, pay our bills, splurge at a nice restaurant once in a while, and we work the family business, not the kind of guy a girl’s parents would be pissed about dating, but not the kind of guy they would be over the moon about either,” Cole said, thinking of Tav, thinking about what the Demon half of her family would think about the legendary Seventh Son of a Seventh Son courting a daughter of demons. With Cole’s luck, if they knew of his family pedigree, they may think he’s just getting in good with her so he can find a clan of demons to wipe from the earth. No, Cole thought. Tav may be half demon, but that half of her family couldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t talked about much as the Order liked to paint all demons as only enemies of humanity. But it was not unheard of for a Demon, after centuries of nothing but blood and battle, to neglect the ways of darkness and wish for peace from this endless war. If Tav was here at the Demon Academy, if she was accepted despite the reputation of her father, if she wanted to be here, she couldn’t be evil. Tav had to have wanted an end to this war just as much as him, at least that’s what he told himself.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Gregor, who had of course been the first student to the Hunt Listings, approached Cole and Benny, “Gentlemen, I believe that we, being three men of camaraderie with varied skill sets, could serve each other well working in a hunt together. I’ve overlooked the specifics of the various Demons the Professors will be testing with us, and I’ve compared that information to the various skills and capabilities of both ourselves and the rest of our class,” he said, “It’s good you’re here early, I believe that the best hunt that we could utilize our skills with would be a Sogrog, it’s a heavily shelled demon with a soft underbelly, Benny, with your great hammer he could crack its shell open with ease, exposing its innards and once the beast is vulnerable, Cole, your great sword should make fast work of it, I, of course, will be able to run point distracting its claws with my fencing work,” Gregor held up the signup sheet for the Sogrog hunt, “This is the most sensible demon that our three skill sets would be able to defeat with ease,” he said.

  “Sogrog? I don’t know, they’re kind of slow, and you don’t need to break their shell to kill them,” Cole said, putting a hand to his chin, “We can’t take the easy A on our first hunt, this mission has to really set the pace if we’re going to be the best performers,” he said.

  “What shows you’re the best performer other than an A,” Gregor asked.

  “Wait, they’re giving letter grades for this. I thought we just had to kill something, I thought it would be a Check, Check plus, Check minus kind of thing,” Benny said.

  “If we break the Sogrog’s shell, we’ll lose the most valuable part of it, a grade is nice, but I’m trying to get some cash,” Cole said, “Grades may do well by you, but I’m after coin, We’ll be going to the market after the hunt, I don’t want to show up there with nothing,” he said.

  “It’s only our first hunt,” Gregor said, “I think it would be beneficial to us to take an easy A early in the year and stack our grades in case of future blunders.”

  “I don’t know, Sogrogs aren’t exactly the stories legends are made out of,” Cole turned his head and saw the rest of their class pouring in, rushing to the signup sheets. In the middle of the pack, he saw Tav, shoving her way through the crowd with a target in her eye.

  Tav pushed through and came to the Hunt she needed, an Annukag. Despite how eager Tav was to get a spot on that particular hunt, there weren’t that many takers for it. The Annukag was probably the most vicious demon that the Academy would be willing to throw in front of new students. She took the pen attached to the form and signed her name on the first line.

  Cole had seen this and turned to Benny and Gregor, “What about the Annukag,” Cole said, watching Tav smile as she signed up for the hunt.

  “Annukag, vicious demon, surprised they would allow the unseasoned such as us to fight a creature like that,” Gregor said.

  “They wouldn’t put it in front of us if they didn’t think we could do it,” Cole went to the crowd and started to push his way through, “Come on, we can do it,” he said as Gregor and Benny followed.

  “What’s an Annukag?” Benny asked, following Gregor.

  “A monster famous for teeth,” Gregor said, “Famous for teeth that are quite valuable, by my estimates the Annukag if defeated, could prove to be the most profitable monster we could hope to slay in the first hunt, but it will be difficult for us, I still say we should go with the Sogrog,” he said while following Cole none the less.

  Cole watched Tav sign her name, and damn if he wasn’t going to put his name right under hers, “No, Annukag, that’s what we fight, for the cash,” Cole turned to his friends and smiled, before turning back to the wall and taking the pen and signing his name, Cole looked over the form, “Professor Marcus is going to be leading this hunt, he’s the best fighter on the academy’s payroll if anyone can help us take this thing down it's him,” Cole turned to Benny, “Do you want to get an A, or do you want to be a legend,” he asked.

  “Never made an A in my old school, don’t see any reason to start now,” Benny said as he took the pen and signed his name, “You up for it, Greg?” he asked, handing the pen to Gregor.

  Gregor took the pen in and hand turned to Cole, “While it is against my judgment, I did campaign to be your aid in the war with Demons, if I’m to be your support then I’m to be by your side, I will join you in the hunt Cole Longdren,” he took the pen and with the quick hand of a doctor’s signature put his name down on the Annukag hunt. “The most awkward thing about being a man who’s studied medicine is the fact that you must pray your talents are never needed,” he said.

  “To the hunt then,” Cole said, looking at Tav’s signature on the form. The rest of the students were fighting over spaces on the rest of the hunts. The weakest monster’s forms filled up the fastest, students looking for that easy A to get the year started on a good foot. Tav, Cole, Benny and Gregor, and three other students were the only takers for the Annukag hunt. It was a beast intimidating to any student, but Cole smiled. He didn’t just have Benny and Gregor backing him up, but he would be fighting side by side with Tav. If what Tav showed in training was any inclination of how skilled she was, this Annukag didn’t stand a chance.