“Those are all talented fighters,” Ben says, confusion strong in his voice. “What could they have gone up against that all four of them are missing?”
“I don’t know,” Abigail responds to him with a shake of her head. “I can’t imagine it. From the way Natalia was talking the last time I saw her, it didn’t sound like a strong demon. She made it seem as if she would be back in no time. Oh, God, I can’t believe this.”
I stand. I can’t take anymore. Ben and Abigail’s eyes fall on me, but I ignore them. I just make my way out the hall.
The silence of the hallway combats the noisy anger roaring in my ears. Again, I don’t allow myself to think. If I do, there’s no telling what sort of thoughts I will have, what sort of emotions will weed their way in.
Emotions I don’t ever allow myself to dwell on.
Emotions that make me weak.
I can’t allow myself to be weak. Not at a time like this. Not when Natalia needs me.
5
With the majority of the hunters still in the conference hall, my trip is made in utter silence. Unless, of course, you count the roaring in my ears that practically grows in insistence the more I think about what Mr. Black said. My anger manifests itself in my stride and in the grit of my teeth, and I know that I’m no longer wearing my blank mask. It’s as if the anger has burned it all away.
I come to stop before Mr. Black’s door. The urge to burst in and demand answers overwhelms me, but I know that by doing that, I’ll be kicked out before I can even get two words in. And I’m not sure what that will do to my blood pressure if I am.
So, I take a deep breath. I relax my fists, flexing my now cramped fingers, and try to ease my body from its rigid state. It hardly works, but after a while I think I look normal enough to enter. At least, I hope.
I don’t knock. I just walk in. Mr. Black is standing by the window again, hands behind him. I can’t see his face and I’m grateful for that. There would be no better fuel for the furious fire within me than the stoic expression he’s no doubt wearing.
Damn it, I know I can’t blame him for it, as much as I want to. I know what it means to run this Guild and I know the pressures he’s under. He needs to remain level-headed and, no doubt just like me, I can picture him locking away useless emotions to focus on the task at hand: rescuing the missing hunters. I need to not forget that.
“Mr. Black,” I call to him, though I’m pretty sure he knows I’m here. I’m also just as sure that he was expecting me.
“Predictable as always, Melody,” he says without turning.
I brush the criticism aside. It hardly bothers me as it normally would, not with more important things on my plate. “I’m sure you know why I’m here, then.”
“I do. And the answer is no.”
There it is again. The geyser of rage I had managed to tamper down. I nearly launch myself at him, but, by the grace of something bigger, I manage to keep myself still. “Natalia Rose is a dear friend of mine. I should be allowed to go out there and find her.”
“The answer is still no. I’ve already set the specific rescue parties, so my decision has been made.”
“Make another decision, then.” I take a step forward. “I’m the best hunter you have. You can’t put me on the sidelines like this knowing the contribution I would make to your mission. Especially with no explanation like this.”
“That’s just it, Melody,” he finally turns and, just as I expected, his face is set with only one look: determination. Currently focused on me, which is never a good thing. “You are a hunter. You only know how to hunt. You have no experience or knowledge going in with a rescue party.”
“Then, give me the experience.” I allow myself another step. One more, and I just might launch myself at him. “How am I supposed to learn if you keep me locked up in here?”
“It isn’t something you need to learn, Melody. It’s something you are. You require stealth and patience, at the very least. And you, unfortunately, have none of those things.”
He isn’t wrong and so I don’t try to fight him on the matter. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. With or without stealth and with or without patience, I am a damn good hunter. And very well knows that they need me. I take a deep breath. “I could.”
“It’s a no.” He takes a seat, then waves his hand dismissively. I see red. “My decision has been made, Melody. You may leave.”
I blink the fury from my eyes. “Do you think this might have any connection to what the demon said last night?”
He eyes me carefully before saying, “There is no indication as to a connection between the two. Your demon said he didn’t want to fight. If they met upon a demon with the same logic, they wouldn’t have gone missing.”
“But a hunter hasn’t gone missing like this since the uprising years ago. Something has to be off for that to happen again. First, the demon last night and now this?”
“If there is really a connection, Melody, one of the search parties will find it. But, seeing as you are not going to be involved in the missions, it is of no concern to you, unless notified otherwise.”
I open my mouth to argue, because there is no way I’m going down without a fight, but someone knocks on the door.
“Enter,” says Mr. Black.
The door opens to reveal Thaon. He comes to stand beside me without looking in my direction, perfectly ignoring the dumbfounded expression I’m giving him.
“Squadron One is gathered and ready to go,” he tells Mr. Black.
Mr. Black nods. “You will be investigating the scene of the activity, starting immediately. You may leave.”
Thaon nods then, without sparing me a glance, turns and leave. I return my eyes to Mr. Black. “He is a part of the rescue team?”
“He’s captain of Squadron One. He’s the perfect hunter for the job. You, Melody, are the worst. Keep taking missions for low-ranked demons if you want. Or not. It doesn’t matter. Just stay out of this and let the people who are more qualified handle it.”
I hardly hear the end of it. I pull my chin up, look him in the eye and manage to utter the words, “Fine, then. Permission to rest.”
“Granted.” He leans back in his chair and stares me at me as I glare at him. Then I turn to leave.
It’s at times like these I remember why I don’t have any friends. That vulnerability, knowing the exact way to push my buttons, to kindle the anger within me, Mr. Black takes advantage of it all.
But he tends to forget that I have the key to his weakness, and constantly pushes me to use it. So, I push my legs as I would a key into a lock, and as I reach my room, I turn it.
The door pops open. Mr. Black’s underestimation of me leaps out and I grab ahold.
The first place I go to is Natalia’s room and the closer I get, the more I can hear voices. I don’t know whether it’s annoyance or anger that rises in me at the sound, but it feeds my steps until I’m standing outside her room. Sitting on her bed is a woman I’ve never seen before, though she’s clearly a hunter from the gear she’s wearing.
Although why a hunter would be weeping over someone’s bed as if they died like that, I have no clue.
I brace my shoulder against the door jam, eyes shifting from the woman to the guy sitting before her. Neither of them notices me. “She isn’t fucking dead, you know.”
Their eyes shoot to me. The woman sniffles and rubs her runny nose vigorously with the back of her hand. As soon as she notices that it’s me, her eyes widen a bit more. Satisfaction at the look in them rushes through me.
“I know,” she snivels. “But she’s missing, and something could be seriously wrong. And chances are, we won’t find out until it’s too late.”
“Right,” the guy says.
I slowly look over at him, with the sort of calm you only see in a predatory animal waiting to pounce. Fear shifts in his eyes and I feed off it. They know me. Not only as the Mr. Black’s daughter, but as the best – and most ruthless – hunter in the whole damn Guild. I’m feared among mo
st of them and revered by the little left over. I’m not surprised by the way they look at me, and I’m sure not surprised by the excitement I feel at the sight.
He swallows and goes on, “She was our friend.”
I look him up and down. Suddenly, it hits me where I know him from. He’s one of the many guys Natalia hooked up with, only to leave him in her dust. She was always great at it. Seducing them, although that doesn’t take much more than a sultry smile and a few intimate touches, and taking them to her bed. Then, when she’s done with them, she forgets all about them, but smiles with them in just the right way to make their resentment fade and hope blossom. In other words, this guy is one of the many guys in the Guild, and only a fraction of the guys in New York, who would sell their kidney to be with Natalia. She always had that effect on people.
Curious now, I look at the weeping woman. Her nose is red, eyes growing puffy. The sight makes me disgusted and I don’t bother keeping that from my face. I’m not sure if she’s another one of Natalia’s past exploits, or just another Abigail who likes to follow Natalia wherever she goes. I tend to ignore them so I can’t be very sure.
Either way, I don’t care who they are. I don’t plan to sit around moping about Natalia’s disappearance like this woman, or arguing with my father about not being on any of the rescue parties as he no doubt expects me to. I much prefer taking things into my own hands.
“You could be her best friend, lover, or husband for all I care. Time to scram.”
His shoulders straighten at that. “This isn’t your room. You don’t have the right to kick us out.”
Why do so many people think they know so much about me? My room or not, Natalia is my friend, which means I have a duty to find her. They might be friends of hers too, however, weeping onto of her bed isn’t going to save her fucking life. Plus, I’m not good with emotions and I’m even worse with other people watching me go through something so human and weak. So no, they don’t get to stay here, because whatever weakness overcomes me is not a weakness they will be privy to.
“Doesn’t fucking matter,” I hiss. They flinch at the steel in my voice. “Get the fuck out now, or I’m breaking both your fucking noses.”
They don’t last long after that. The guy wraps his arms around the woman, shielding her from me as they scurry past. I watch them scamper away for a moment before facing the room again.
I can feel those emotions at the sight of her bed, of her messy bed that still smells like her. They collide with the wall I threw up and I push them away before they can knock it down. Focus, I tell myself.
Her bed stands opposite two others, neat and tidy compared to hers. Each hunter shares a room with two other people, but the rooms are usually all big enough to give each of them their own individual space. Natalia liked to take advantage of all that space.
Her clothes are everywhere. Bras and panties are thrown over the head of the bed, used tissues smudged with red lipstick scattered around it. Her sheets are halfway off the bed, lying along the ground over the dozens of pairs of shoes she owns.
Mirthlessly, I notice that her mess is only in her section of the room, as if her roommates had kicked them over her side. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.
I step further into the room, shoving aside all the lingering anger from my talk with my father. I clear my head, knowing I will need to focus in order to do what I need to do. One by one I pick up the littered clothing, searching for anything that might be out of place, that might show me a sign as to what might have happened to Natalia. I don’t expect to find anything useful, if what Abigail said is to be trusted. Then again, I might notice something that Abigail wouldn’t have thought as anything important. As far as I know, I am Natalia’s closest friend, as she is mine.
But I find nothing. Nothing to indicate what she might have been thinking before she left, if she was scared or otherwise. From the state of things, being as messy as it is, there was nothing off with her.
Which means I only have one clue to go off of. The mission site. No doubt Mr. Black already knows what I plan to do and is planning to stop me. It doesn’t make it any better that I had kicked those two out like I did. News spreads like wildfire in the Guild.
Doesn’t matter. I don’t have a choice but to follow the only lead I have. I know a few other ways out of the Guild. I know my father knows them too, but hopefully he thinks I don’t know of it and won’t try to thwart me.
Turning swiftly on my heels, I make my way out of the room. The faces of the people that pass me are but a blur in the red haze over my vision, through the deadly look I no doubt have in my eyes. My steps are fueled by my father’s words, and I hardly hear a sound as I make my way to the war room, though I know whispers follow me in my wake.
The war room has a name way behind its time. When the Guild was first made, during the first uprising when the first hunters came together to stop the plague of demons on the human populace, this was the room that stood the test of time. It was borne out of the need to prepare for battle in the most efficient way possible, then remained the most constant part of the Guild while the building around it changed and grew to what it is now. Now, it is where most hunters with statuses like me and Natalia, who have countless demons under our belts, prepare for missions. Newb hunters prepare in the armory.
The room is empty, luckily. The rescue squadrons must have been sent out already because, though the wide, expansive area is quiet, I can feel the thrum of energy in the room, the displaced air that is yet to settle. It only makes me more agitated.
I make my way over to my locker, situated to the far back corner of the room but close enough to the showers so that I won’t have to walk much. Natalia had been pissed when she noticed where I chose to place it –not at all surprised that I had bullied a senior hunter into giving up the spot – and had chosen to put hers in the center of the war room. The spot was already taken but, of course, Natalia always gets what she wants.
There are only two things inside my locker – my sword and my gear.
I stare at the blade a little longer than I am supposed to, watching the purple color glow beautifully though there isn’t much light in my corner. Then, I take out my gear.
It isn’t the standard hunter gear I wear during most missions. While it looks the same, clinging to my skin from head to toe, it’s fitted with more details than the regular gear. The deep black leather is not only resistant to demon poison, but regenerates over time once torn. The way it sticks to the skin makes it almost a part of it, and I have much better movement in it than I do with anything else. It even allows me to keep my sword on my person without even feeling that it’s there. Not really a bad thing considering there’s no way someone will be able to sneak up and disarm me without me noticing their presence first.
I strip right there, not caring about the cameras situated around the room, and don my gear. Lastly, I pick up my sword.
I’ve had it since I was matriculated into the Guild as an official hunter, when I was fourteen. It had been my mother’s and my father passed it on to me that same night. It was the only time in my life I’ve ever seen him show the slightest bit of emotion.
He’d stood at the side of my bed that night, watching me carefully as I watched him. I saw the sheathed sword as soon as he entered the room, but kept my mouth shut and waited for him to speak, waited for him to make the first move.
It took him nearly a minute. He just stood there, watching me, not breaking eye contact, a myriad of different things flashing in his eyes as I stared back. For a split second, I saw something I never saw in him before, something I didn’t think he was capable of. But, it had gone so quickly, I thought I imagined it.
Then, he spoke. He asked me if I knew how important being a hunter was. Then, before I could answer, went into detail about the first hunters, saying things I knew he knew I was already aware of. Nevertheless, I sat silently as he told me about Dragus Maybury, the first man to gather what normal humans consider clairvoyanc
e. He knew it went much further than that, and, as the portals into the mortal realm grew weaker, allowing more creatures to pass over, they gathered together to fight the forces that wreaked havoc on the lives of those who couldn’t see them, those who didn’t know what unearthly things walked amongst them.
The first uprising. That was what it was called. People like us, who could see demons and other supernatural creatures abandoned their lives of isolation and forged establishment to protect this city from the things that want it to burn.
My father didn’t allow me to speak then, though I had no words. Then he gave me a piece of the person I had always wanted to know. My mother.
He had placed a sword at the foot of my bed, told me it used to be hers and that now it was mine, and left. I hadn’t said a word all throughout.
And I haven’t stopped using the sword since.
There are things about my mother I still want to know, things I know I’ll have no luck trying to get out of my father. But, now isn’t the time. Now, I have to find Natalia.
I sheathe the sword and place it squarely between my shoulder blades, the dangerous end pointing downwards. Then I close the locker and leave the room, giving the cameras only one look. I don’t know if my father is watching, but if he is, I want him to know I’m not afraid of whatever he might do.
The route I take isn’t a well traversed one. The Guild, which is abuzz with the news of the missing hunters, do have a few secret areas, despite the mammoth size amount of people occupying this one building.
The deeper I go down this hall, the louder the silence becomes. I know it’s all in my head, and I press on, purpose in my stride.
The place I’m headed right now should only have one guy in my way. As I come to the intersection of the passageways, I peer down the hallway to the left of me to see him standing dutifully next to my path out of here.
The conveyor that leads down to the basements, an incredible wide area of space beneath the underground parking area, is only known to a handful of people: Mr. Black, Luna, the three men that guard the area on rotation, and, hopefully unbeknownst to my father, me.
Hunting Darkness: Hunting her Lovers (Demon Hunter Book 1) Page 4
