“I really screwed this up.” Victoria sighed.

“Don’t go all emo on me kid,” Sunny said. As she regarded the teenager from the driver's seat of her car. “We saved as many as we could and we have valuable intelligence.”

“But so many died and you heard the EMT if we had been there a few hours later the girl would have died.” Her tone was accusatory though Saundra didn’t know if the girl was accusing her or herself.

“They said she could have.” She glanced back to the road. “In this, you don’t ask questions about what could have been. You can drive yourself insane.”

Sunny watched as the girl nodded her understanding but the older woman knew that the teenager didn’t have the perspective she needed to really understand this new world she found herself in. “We need to be debriefed by Osgood.”

Victoria looked up at her owlishly. “I thought you were just going to drop me off at home and go in to report.”

“I was—” the older woman started to say then mashed the accelerator to beet a light that had just turned yellow. “But you also saw something today that I think Osgood needs to hear from your perspective.”

“Fine, where are we headed?”

“The guildhall is down near market square, close to the mason's hall. You can’t miss it.” Victoria looked at her mentor and heard the smile in her words.

“I take it this is something special?” The teen said dully as if she was finding it hard to pull up the snark. The older woman understood since she had held a little girl covered in the guts of her dead parents.

“Yes, and no. You can find training, people to help you to research cases. A clean shower and a change of clothes…” She said in a very pointed comment.

“I do kind of smell,” Victoria said with a small laugh.

“There are also a few people that will buy the materials and things you collected today.”

“I do need a better knife.” She said with a wan smile.

Lacie bobbed up from the rear seat and settled on Victoria's shoulder. “Maybe some armor.” She suggested. Sunny nodded her agreement.

“I know nothing about armor.” The teenager lamented. “Is there someone that could help me?”

Lacie gave the teenager her best Gaelic shrug. “Probably.” The little pixie said.

“I’m sure Nan can.”

“Nan?” Victoria asked.

“Yes, old Nan. Probably the greatest outfitter there has ever been.” Sunny replied with a thoughtful look toward the teenager. Victoria picked up on something unsaid by the older woman.

“What aren’t you saying?” She asked of the older woman.

“Oh, somethings have to be seen to be believed.” She gave Victoria a smile. “Trust me.”

* * *

The guildhall looked run down and held little interest to the casual visitor to the city. “It looks like the poster child for gentrification,” Victoria said in dismay as she gave Sunny a sideways glance.

“It's fine just follow me and let me do all of the talking.” Saying so the older woman led both pixie and teenager into an ally and around the back of the building. “We needed a central location for the hunters to meet.” The older woman elaborated. “Back when this was built the town was a lot smaller.” She gestured as they neared the back door. Victoria took note of the other alleys that lead away from the back of the building. “Up that way is a parking deck but its usually full of tourists or office workers.” She gestured vaguely north. “You will get to know the area. That way is a tave—” Sunny stopped mid-sentence. “Never mind.” She said as she stepped to the oversize door.

The lock clicked as Sunny set her hand to the handle. “What?” Victoria asked.

“It’s spell locked. Only someone approved by the guild can enter.” As they stepped through the portal. The hallway that greeted the ladies as they entered very much fit the exterior of the structure. It was a well-worn beige, Victoria thought that at least it wasn’t a scientifically approved mood-altering color to ease the transition. From what she could see the building looked what it was supposed to be; an old rundown office space.

“You know some developer is going to come sniffing around here.” Victoria said as she examined a cobweb near the ceiling.

“It’s happened before,” Sunny said with a chuckle. “ I heard Erasmus paid their offices a visit. No one is quite sure what he said but they backed off.” She got a sly look. “Lacie do you know what he did?”

“Why would I know?”

“You are a servant of the library.” The older woman said.

“Well I may serve the library but that doesn’t mean I know everything that happens.” The small pixie gestured with a hand as they came to a split in the hallway.

Sunny gestured. “Down there is the barracks and training area.” She then led the girl through the next hallway as she continued to speak. “This leads to the main offices, research libraries, laboratories and the depot.” Victoria gave the woman an odd look. “What?”

“Depot?” She asked.

“Well, yeah. We store goods and materials there, for distribution. You can leave items you collect—”

“She means loot.” Lacie Chimed in.

“Yes loot, you can leave loot for either extra money or contribution points that can be used for purchases of unusual and special items.” The older woman said. “Most of the time people donate lower level loot so they can get special items while the higher quality items they trade for better gear.” She shrugged. “Everyone has a little bit of a different strategy.”

“What strategy do you use?” The teenager replied.

“I try to keep the things I can use for my own crafting then sell or trade the rest for equipment or materials I can use.” The older woman smiled with a bit of a sparkle in her eyes. “But what I do works for me. You are still fairly low level and will take a few years to learn a profession.”

“And college coming up next year,” Victoria said excitedly.

“Most of us forgo college,” Sunny said with an exaggerated sigh. “I went, but for ulterior motives. We had a monster problem at Texas A and M.”

“What kind of a monster problem?” The teenager asked incredulously. “It took you four years to get it?”

“Well no, the first year was a host of vampires. Stupid twilight. The next year it was werewolves again stupid twilight.”

“The third year?” The teen asked.

“A Rogue wizard kept reanimating the past Reveille's.” The woman said holding her hands up in supplication. “It was kind of bittersweet. I graduated with a bachelor's in psychology and a minor in parapsychology. But that jerk wound up getting a dog on national tv during the homecoming game.” The teen looked at her mentor shocked at the revelation.

“Wait that was what three years ago? They said it was a bad Halloween costume.” Sunny’s smile was as wide as the Cheshire cats. “What happened to the wizard?”

“There are three things you can do with a dark wizard, kill them, take their magic, or recruit them.” The older woman replied but didn’t elaborate as she led the teenager through the hallway deeper into the complex. She strode through a door marked operations. The room was twenty by twenty square, there was a door centered on each wall. Desks, bookshelves, and large filing cabinet bins line the walls. In the center of the room was a flat map of the city. Victoria could see a large form staring down at the map with a perplexed expression on his face. One hand was stroking his chin as the stared down at something only his eyes seemed able to see.

“Mr. Osgood—” Victoria started to say but was hushed by Sunny.

“Watch this is how you report in.” She saw the woman square her shoulders and step up o the map table. “Sir, Hunter Becket reporting in on the Cheerleader quest.” The older man glanced up gave a brief nod and let the woman continue. “The quest has been cleared. However there is the information we need to apprise the council of.” She said as she brought out one fo the pistols and a rifle that Victoria hadn’t seen her take.

Erasmus's eyes glanced down to the weapons then up to the woman who held them. “This is grave news. I’m glad you brought that one in. We have a few questions.” The older man nodded and two of the other hunters in the room stepped up beside the teenager. ”Please, follow Juan and Gerry.”