Ordained
do we have?”
    “The ordained huntress was scheduled for confrontation on the first day of spring, March twenty-first.”
    Noel shook his head in disbelief. “I’m sorry, who was supposed to meet him?”
    “Athena was supposed to reincarnate the female hunter that bound him originally. She was to be born with legitimate powers and skills this time.” Ashamed, Lincoln continued, “But, for whatever reason, the ordained huntress no longer seems to be with us.”
    Jayden shifted his stance. Noel had completely forgotten he was there. “How do you know that?”
    Lincoln replied, “The ordained huntress would have been born with a birthmark of the symbol you were shown. None of the current hunters have it.”
    Noel huffed in disbelief. “So you had the only hunter ordained with the power to defeat Morphus and you let her out into the world unprotected?”
    “Not on purpose.”
    “Good job.” He stepped closer to Abby, fearing the possible change of her emotional state hearing this directly from the Order’s mouth.
    “No hunter for hundreds of years had shown to be more special than the others. All were inspected after birth and the mark was never seen. We had no idea Morphus was coming or that she would fall to Eraticus prior to confrontation,” said the Chancellor.
    Annoyed, Jayden spat, “Please. Any hunter actually blessed by a god wouldn’t have died against Eraticus.”
    “Excuse me?” exclaimed Abby.
    Ah, crap. They had been so close to finishing this without incidence. He truly wanted to throttle Jayden.
    “I’m only saying what we’re all thinking. Morphus has been blessed by a goddess. A far more worthy opponent than Eraticus, who by the way was nothing more than a simpleton, a rather large and smelly buffoon ranked at the bottom of the demonic world, yet he still wiped the floor with each and every one of you.”
    His eyes fixed on Jayden, Noel didn’t realize Abby had shifted to return her line of sight. He barely regained position before she tried to lunge for him.
    “You bastard!” yelled Abby. “I don’t see your pathetic ass out there doing anything productive in the world.”
    He crossed his arms and his shoulders rose almost high enough to touch his ears. “What? I should be like a hunter? Leave school at eighteen, kill a few vampires and die a few years later? Such a contribution, really.”
    So fixated on Abby, Jayden neglected to see the retaliation coming from Noel. One hand still holding her back, Noel thrust his grip around Jayden’s neck and pulled him close. Stunned and abashed, the Chancellor and Lincoln froze in place.
    “One more remark from you and I’ll step aside. And let me assure you, her bite is far worse than her bark.”
    Noel released Jayden, shoving him backwards several feet. He gently rubbed his reddened neck and backed himself into the corner again. He and Abby continued to stare coldly at one another even as Noel increased the space between them.
    “So we have about eight weeks until he’s released?” continued Noel, his eyes still focused on Abby, determined to keep her reigned in for the remainder of the meeting. She was clearly uncomfortable with her surroundings - a little too trigger-happy for his taste.
    Still bewildered, Lincoln was slow to answer. “Not necessarily. The first day of spring was to be the day of confrontation. For all we know, he’s already been released.”
    “Let’s assume he has been. Where would he go?”
    “He’ll need to start recruiting demons for his army. But he also won’t want to risk running into the ordained huntress before he has to.” Lincoln instinctively retreated to the other side of the table as Noel continued pushing Abby away from Jayden.
    “So what are you planning?” urged Noel.
    “To have Abigail lead a team in with first priority to destroy and entrapment secondary.”
    Abby shook her head in disagreement. “No go. I work alone.”
    “No hunter other than the one ordained can defeat Morphus. You

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