by Cheree Alsop
I watched her walk up the hallway with a grace that hid any tiredness she may have felt despite the late hour. What drove her was beyond me. The dhampir was a complete enigma, and distance had made that even more so. I always strove to understand my enemies; it made them easier to fight. But she had become something less than that. Though we weren’t on friend terms, she was a teammate. Sometime during our battles, I might actually have to rely on her to protect my back. Though I wasn’t quite ready for that kind of trust, at least a little insight into her thoughts might have helped. It may have also been helpful if I was the talkative type. We were both at a loss when it came to that one.
Riot read the only word on the whiteboard when we walked into the briefing room. “Shades.”
“Oh no,” Serian whispered.
I glanced back to see her pale face. The woman rarely showed any fear toward the creatures we faced. Her expression troubled me.
“What’s a shade?” Virgo asked.
“If what I remember from Sutter is true, it’s a skin walker,” Kai answered. “An inhabitor, to make up my own word.”
“Sutter would be proud,” Serian said.
“We need him here.” Riot sat down at one of the desks with a sigh. “We need his knowledge. I’m tired of going into these things blind.”
Serian nodded as she took the seat next to him. “How much longer is he in Intensive?”
“Three more weeks, at least,” the weapons master replied. He didn’t sound at all happy about it. “That poison really took its toll.”
Serian slumped in her seat. Her blonde hair stuck up in all directions from sleeping. It looked pretty much the same as it did when she took the time to style it. “That’s too long.”
“I know someone.”
I looked at Virgo along with the rest of them. He had taken a seat at the end of the row next to Kai. I usually chose to stand. My adrenaline from being awoken by a siren made it too hard to stay still. I was eager for the fight. It was hard enough to have patience through the briefing.
“You know him,” the warlock said with a grin. “Ja—”
“No.” I spoke the word before he could even finish the name.
Virgo paused mid-syllable. His mouth closed, then opened again when he said, “But he—”
“No,” I repeated. “Never.”
Virgo’s brow furrowed and he watched me closely. “But he would love this, and you know it.”
I was acutely aware of the team watching us. I hadn’t meant to say anything, but I also hadn’t guessed Virgo would want to bring James into the danger of the Division.
As I watched my friend, I realized one thing; the Division was an exciting experience to him. Each mission was an adventure, and bringing his friends into it was the best thing he could imagine.
I let out a slow breath and glanced around the room. Fray caught my gaze from her place a few seats down. Though I couldn’t read her expression, I could tell she was waiting for something. I looked away.
“Virgo, you can’t bring James here. This place isn’t what it seems.”
“What do you mean?”
I folded my arms across my chest. The bruise from the training center bullet was gone, but I could feel the scars of the other bullet holes beneath my shirt. The memory of yet another betrayal, though unintentional, tried to weasel its way to the surface. I pushed it down.
“I mean the Captain isn’t honorable.” I said it flatly without looking at the others.
“Excuse me?” Serian replied, sliding back her chair.
“Take that back,” Riot growled.
A knife was in his hands. I wasn’t sure if he was even aware that he had drawn it, but I was. I had heard the tiny scrape of metal on leather as it left its sheath. My instincts screamed for me to take a fighting stance and defend myself against an armed attacker. I willed my expression to remain calm and didn’t lower my hands. Instead, I held his gaze.
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
His eyes widened when he looked from the knife back to me. He could throw it, sure. It might even give me a mortal wound, but we both knew that the moment the knife hit me, it would also be in my possession. Arming a wounded werewolf wasn’t exactly the brightest idea.
I held the human’s wide gaze.
“Enough,” Fray barked.
Riot blinked and slid the knife back into the sheath. He returned to his seat, careful to keep his hands where I could see them. Serian sat as well, but the anger in her expression was clear.
“Zev, that’s a pretty big accusation. You’d better finish what you’re going to say,” the dhampir said.
I lifted my gaze to the off-white wall across from them, “This is a conversation that should be between Virgo and I, not the rest of you.”
“We’re a team,” Kai said.
“We should all hear it if it affects him bringing someone else in,” Fray prompted in a level voice.
I nodded. I studied the rows of desks, bothered slightly by one that stood a few inches further forward than the others.
“What are you getting at?” Virgo said.
I met his gaze directly. He blinked.
“Tell them how I came to be here,” I told the warlock.
Embarrassment crossed his face and he looked down at his desk. “I don’t know what that has to do with anything.”
“It has to do with everything,” I replied. “Tell them.”
When he didn’t speak, Riot asked, “How did Zev get here?”
It was a moment before the warlock replied, “I shot him with a tranquilizer.”
Shocked silence filled the room. I glanced at Fray. There was no such surprise on her face. She had been there when they interrogated me. But did she know everything?
“They brought me here against my will,” I told them without emotion. “Then they blackmailed me to keep me here.”
Surprise showed on the faces I saw.
“How?” Serian asked.
I looked at Virgo. “They threatened to kill the werewolves I had freed from my Lair and that are all that is left of my pack. They’re monitoring them even now in case I slip up.”
Virgo’s mouth fell open. I looked away.
“The Captain knows about this?” Serian asked.
“The Captain’s the one who said it to my face,” I told her.
Virgo’s shoulders slumped. “And here I thought you stayed because of some sort of loyalty to me; but I haven’t earned it.” He glanced at me. “You tried to leave?”
I nodded, but I hated myself a little bit with the admission.
“What happened?” the warlock asked in a whisper as if he didn’t really want to know, but couldn’t keep from finding out.
“They shot me with more tranquilizers.” I allowed a small, wry smile to curl the corner of my lips. “You get tired of that pretty quickly, trust me.”
“Zev, that’s awful,” Serian said. Her eyebrows were pulled together and she looked as though she didn’t know whether to be mad or sad. The mixed emotions warred in her green gaze.
“It’s fine,” I replied. When Virgo opened his mouth to argue, I raised a hand. “I’ve come to terms with it for now, and believe it or not, I like being on this team.” A few smiles met my gaze. Fray didn’t smile. I turned back to Virgo. “But I’m asking you not to bring anyone else to the Division. James has a different life ahead of him. We should leave him to it.”
Virgo nodded. “I won’t, I promise.”
“Thank you,” I told him. I couldn’t take the warlock’s hurt expression. I sighed and held out a hand. “I don’t hold any grudges.”
He stood and I thought he was going to shake my hand; instead, he gave me a relieved smile before enveloping me a tight hug. “Thanks, Zev.”
I backed away quickly out of his arms before I sent him unconscious to the floor. “I’m not going to forgive you if you do that again.”
Most of the others laughed.
The door opened and another team filed tiredly
in.
“Take your seats,” a man in a dark maroon jacket said when he followed them into the room. “The trucks are ready, so we’ll keep this brief. We have at least a dozen shades, which means there’s a door somewhere that needs to be closed.” He shook his head. “Usually it’s been opened by some ignoramus fooling around with a spell book or some other dark magic he or she doesn’t understand.” He looked at each of our team members. “The shadow demons that inhabit the bodies will leave if we immobilize their host. Demon Crew, your job is to tranq the shades, turn them over to the Human Care team, and try to find the door. When you do, the warlock can close it.” He met Virgo’s gaze. “You can close it, can’t you?”
“I think so,” the warlock replied. His voice hitched at being put on the spot. “It’s been a while since I practiced—”
“Brush up during the ride. There’s no time for wizard one-oh-one,” the man said. “Time is of the essence. Report when you return.”
Every briefing ended with the same statement. Time is of the essence. Report when you return. I supposed it was a positive way of looking at things, projecting that we would indeed return to report, though it came across as rather detached and formal. I doubted the Captain would appreciate my input on the matter.
Everyone rose to their feet. Nobody spoke as we made our way to the waiting trucks. The guns felt heavy in my holsters. I wondered how many missions I would have to do for them to feel natural; I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
I caught Fray’s gaze several times during the ride. Each time, she looked away and glared at the door instead. The last time I met her gray gaze, I was tired of it. I didn’t care that the team was watching. If I was going to trust her to guard my back and I hers, I didn’t need to worry about her leaving me exposed in the hopes of dealing with a problem the easy way. Letting the enemy deal with your enemy had been a quick way to get rid of rivals in the Lair; but this wasn’t the Lair. Human lives were on the line and I wasn’t about to risk any more of them at the oscillating thoughts of a dhampir.
“What’s bothering you, Fray?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You.”
I sat up straighter. “Why?”
“Because you’re not here for the right reasons.”
I held her gaze. “And why are you here? I don’t think I’ve heard the story. Did you join out of the goodness of your heart to protect innocent humans and fight demons like some blood-driven vampire vigilante, or is there more to it? Somehow I doubt you’re here out of some sense of kindness toward the human race.”
My heart was pounding as though I had just fought a formidable foe. There was something predatory in her eyes, something angry and feral. I caught a glimpse of it before she finally looked away.
“I was raised in a concentration camp of sorts.” Her voice was level. She didn’t stop speaking once she started. “Hunters pay good money to hunt something as lethal as a dhampir. There were other species, of course. Some were less dangerous; others could kill with a glance. But it was the dhampirs they specialized in; I was born to die at the hands of whatever man or woman paid enough to hunt me.”
Thick silence filled the truck. I could tell by the expressions on my other teammates’ faces that this was the first time they had heard her story.
She stared at something beyond my left shoulder, a memory I didn’t occupy. “When it was time for a hunt, they put us in cages and the prospective hunters would walk up and down the aisles, choosing who they wanted to kill.” She closed her eyes. “I always thought it was messed up that they wanted to look into the faces of the dhampirs they would hunt, but I understand now.”
“You do?” Serian asked in a hushed voice.
Fray opened her eyes and met the human’s gaze. “I do because I feel the same way when we hunt demons. If you know your enemy, you can defeat them.”
“But you’re not the hunter’s enemy,” Riot said.
“I was the enemy of the man who chose me.” Her gaze sharpened. “I was tired of the parade; I was tired of waiting for my friends who would never come back. I wanted to get out any way that I could.” She paused, then said, “So the next time a man wandered the cages searching for his million dollar target, I looked right in his eyes and dared him to kill me.”
A chill ran down my spine at the dhampir’s words.
Kai broke the silence first. “That’s not right,” he said. “How old were you?”
“Fourteen,” she replied.
Riot gave a low whistle. “That’s not cool. What kind of a sicko coward chooses a fourteen year old as a target?”
She looked at him. “The kind that can’t stand to be defied by what he viewed as a weakling child.”
“If he hunted you, how are you here?” Virgo asked.
“I escaped,” she said. “The hunts take place in a huge, fenced-in forested area filled with empty compounds and things to make the chase more exciting. Another dhampir and I had been chosen, and he knew of an out.” Her voice was a bit tighter when she said, “He didn’t make it, but I did.”
She stopped talking. Nobody asked to find out whatever else followed. It was obvious by her expression that she was done opening herself to us. I felt guilty for forcing her to speak at all. It had been none of my business.
The silence thickened until Serian broke it. “I might not have come from a hunting camp like Fray, but I was an orphan raised in the system, and that was bad enough, especially for a little girl who’s seen demons and nobody would believe her. Try getting adopted with that for a story.” She shook her head. “I was happy to get out and realize I wasn’t the only one.” She opened her hand to indicate the rest of the team. “It’s been nice to find a real family.”
Riot put an arm over her shoulders. “We’re lucky to have you.”
She shrugged out of his grasp. “Get off me or I’ll break your arm.”
Riot quickly moved back with his hands up, laughing.
Everyone chuckled at the grin she gave him after the threat.
“What about you, Kai?” Riot asked. “I’ve always wondered what kept you here in your old age.”
The older man smiled at him, but the light faded from his eyes when he said, “A demon killed my boy.”
The group quickly sobered.
“I’m sorry,” Fray said. “Nobody should have to go through that.”
Kai shook his head. “No, they shouldn’t, which is why I joined the Demon Crew to ensure that nobody else has to.”
“That’s a noble cause,” Riot told him.
Nods went around the truck.
“And you?” Virgo asked curiously. “Why are you here?”
“To blow things up!” the weapons’ specialist said. He drew his guns and pretended to shoot a million creatures right and left. “Someone said guns and I was there!”
More laughter followed. It eased the tension from Fray’s story. I glanced at her and found the dhampir watching me. She held my gaze in challenge. This time, I was the one who looked away. I knew I would have to apologize later for making her talk about such things in front of everyone. If I had learned anything about the dhampir in our time together, it was that she preferred her privacy. I doubted she would forgive me for making her bare herself like that.
The truck slowed. Anticipation shot through the team. I sat forward.
“Remember,” Fray said. “Shoot on sight and let the Human Care team take care of the rest. Our goal is to keep the shades from spreading through the city. We can’t afford to let any of them escape.” She glanced at me. “That’s where you come in, nose. You get to be our bloodhound to ensure we get them all.”
I bristled inwardly at her dog references, but managed to keep my face expressionless. “Looking forward to it,” I said levelly. The truck came to a stop. Strange sounds met my ears. “How many are there supposed to be?” I asked.
“You heard the briefing,” Fray replied. “About a dozen.”
I shook my head. “There’s more than that.”
“
What makes you say—” Riot began.
His words cut off when Kai pulled the door up. The sight of at least thirty humans crowding the street in front of us made everyone pause.
“He wasn’t kidding,” Serian said.
Every head turned toward us. Their eyes glowed with a strange white light; besides that, there was no expression on their faces. It was eerie. The scent of sulfur clouded the air.
“Aim for their chests,” Fray said quietly. “Save your ammo. One shot per possessed. Watch each other’s backs and don’t get bitten; you won’t like the outcome, trust me.”
She jumped out of the truck with her last words, pulling her guns from their holsters as she did so. The rest of us followed close behind.
I never thought I would be perfecting my aim by shooting humans, but a shot to the chest knocked them out far faster than to an arm or a leg. I found a rhythm in sighting down the barrel of the gun, squeezing the trigger, and moving onto the next target before the last one hit the ground.
“There’s more in the next alley!” Serian called over our earpieces.
I followed her around the corner to see at least a dozen more. We took them down in quick succession.
“And back here!” Virgo shouted.
“Where are they coming from?” Serian asked. “This is way more than we were told to expect!”
“We’re supposed to close the door,” Riot said, joining us with Virgo. “But we can’t find it.” He fired twice and took down two more of the shades.
The warlock gave me a worried look. “It’s going to be huge based on the number of shades here.”
“How do we find it?” I asked him.
He thought about it as Serian and Fray shot more of the possessed humans.
“Lavender,” the warlock finally said. At my questioning look, he explained, “Lavender is part of the spell to open the gate. If you can track it down—”
“We’ll find the gate,” I finished.
I kicked off my shoes and was about to pull off my shirt when a horde of shades came around the corner.
“Hurry, Zev!” Serian called over her shoulder. “We’ll hold them off!”
