Page 5 of Dragon's Desire

He'd been cursed with rugged good looks that made so many women putty in his hands. His dark beard was full and gave him a slightly hard around the edges look. It either instantly excited women with the thought of what such a rough man might do, or it prompted them to think they could be the one to tame the beast. His green eyes held an intensity that could make a cadet squirm in their seat. Some because they feared his judgment, and more than a few female cadets because he caused them to feel that torturous warmth start to rise up from between their legs.

He made sure to lock eyes with each of them and could already see who was affected in which way. When the last of them had settled as best they could after his stare, he cleared his throat and said, "I'm Peter Winthrop."

His voice had a slight southern drawl to it, which was another thing some women found very disarming. Each one of the women up front seemed enraptured by it.

"But you will call me sir."

And that line was usually the last hook he needed to find the ones who were hot for the teacher.

"This is Witch-Hunting 101. PEACE gave it some fancy name, but fuck that. I want you to know exactly what you are in for. You are here to learn how to track down and eliminate the threat of rogue witches that are a danger to society."

Peter took a book off the lectern and held it up. It was a hardbound book that was either old or well used, perhaps both.

"This is the Malleus Maleficarum, most commonly translated as the Hammer of Witches," Peter said. "It was written in 1486 by a Catholic priest named Heinrich Kramer. It details how to hunt down, interrogate, and kill witches."

Then he turned to his right and hurled the book across the room. With a metallic thunk, it landed in the trashcan.

"It's complete bullshit."

He always liked that part. It had a great shock value and told anyone who'd done extracurricular reading that they probably had all the wrong information.

"In 1486, The Veil was still in place. Most people couldn't even perceive witches' use of magic or remember it a few minutes after if they even had. The only way torture or burning at the stake will reveal a witch is because they will kill you for trying. Until the Veil fell, witch-hunting was a profession passed down along family lines, occasionally drawing in outsiders. It was the duty of the few who could see through the Veil.

He looked around the room again. A gentleman in the back raised his hand. That was awfully polite. Peter nodded at him.

"What's your name?"

"Cadet Wallace," the young man answered.

"What allowed people to see through the Veil?"

"Good question. Unfortunately, we don't have a good answer. While there does appear to be some inherited component, that's not always the case. It doesn't matter as much now. It's no longer necessary since the Veil isn't a factor anymore. Anyone with the right talent, skills, and training can be a witch hunter. But there might be some of you in this room who have the old ability."

Of all the women getting swoony over him, it was still the black-haired woman whose intensity matched his own. At 6' 2", he guessed he had almost a foot of height on her. But he'd made that height difference work for him more than once.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Cadet Anderson, sir," she answered.

"Your first name."

"Oh, sorry, sir."

"It's alright. I'm sure you can make it up to me later."

She shivered and said, "Laura."

"Well, Laura, I think you would have been one of them. There's something about you, a feeling, like your connected to it. I'd like to discuss that some more later."

He scribbled his number onto a sheet of paper at the lectern and handed it to her. Some of the other young women looked at her with obvious jealousy.

"But, as I said, it's no longer required. You have to rely on your wits, strength, and agility. If you can't push your body to the maximum and then find still more to pull from, chances are you won't make it. I'll be testing you mentally," he looked at Laura again, "and physically, to make sure you are up to the task. If you don't have the stamina it takes, I will not be clearing you to become a witch hunter."

His eyes started scanning the cadets again as he said, "I'm not going to be responsible for your deaths. Make no mistake, cadets, witches can be very dangerous. Even the best, highly trained witch hunters have been killed by witches."

Peter could be showy, even grandiose, but this part wasn't showmen ship. This was serious. When you hunt witches, sometimes your life can end up being very short. That was perhaps why he acted the way he did. It did fit in with his family line. While he could trace his family back generations of witch hunters, he also had what most would consider a very disreputable family.

Drunken revelry was not uncommon. But if your candle could get snuffed out at nearly any moment, you'd best make sure you had enjoyed the time on earth that you had.

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