by Jessica Gunn
In fact, I wasn’t sure how I’d survived at all.
After a short walk, I came down the hallway where Dacher’s office was. Kian saw me approaching and nodded at Ben. The three of them watched as I entered Dacher’s office.
Ben shut the door behind us all. “So, Talon found you?”
“I told you they would.” I crossed my arms. “You of all people should have known that.”
Ben and his team had tangled with some of the worst demons around, including Aloysius’s daughter. While Aloysius might have created all the demons, he had long ago given charge of the Empire of Darkness to his son and heir. But when his daughter had usurped power, Ben’s team had had to take her out before the world ended. Or something.
I’d never been sure of the details. The Hunter teams like mine, without magik, had never been privy to the business of those more elite teams. The only time a team of magik-users had needed our help was to assist in heavy demon nest raiding operations.
Ben’s body went rigid. “We hid you away from them. That should have been enough to get them off your tail until the investigation was complete.”
Kian coughed loudly.
I shot him a glare. You wouldn’t. I was fairly sure, anyway. Revealing my status in Midnight’s fighting ring would reveal his in Crimson. And despite us both being fighters, I was pretty sure Kian didn’t have that big of a death wish.
“That investigation has been going on for six months,” I said.
“There’s a lot of missing information,” Ben started.
Dacher interrupted him. “The point of the matter is that your team got caught in a tricky situation.”
“Political, you mean.”
Dacher’s eyes narrowed in warning. “Short of keeping you bound to Headquarters, there is no way to guarantee they’ll never find you or Will. The protection program option was given to you for a chance at a normal life until this matter can be resolved.”
“Resolved?” I asked, then turned to Ben, glaring. “Then resolve it already. Your team took out Darkness’s heir. You’re fucking legends in the Circle now.”
Kian coughed again. I bit my lip. “Legends” wasn’t exactly the word some of us non-magik-users used, but it was the kindest.
“If you’re so powerful, Ben, can’t you and your team just waltz into Landshaft, find Talon’s base of operations, and take them out for me?” I asked. “Then I’d be safe. I’ll go with you if you want. And then by saving me, you’d save all those Hunters and witches who end up fodder for Autumn Fire. You’d save all those people the demons would otherwise kill to feed themselves.”
Ben’s stare hardened. “And then we’d escalate a war we’re not ready for that would probably result in the entire world finding out demons and magik and Hunters exist. The war would be in the streets.”
“Then let it be,” I said. “My fight already is. My team is already dead. I’ll be damned if I let Will fall to the same fate.”
Dacher stood from his desk and lifted his hands, as if the motion would be enough to calm us. “The investigation is almost finished. When it is, we’ll be able to decide on a plan on action.”
“You’re seriously going to wait until then?” Kian asked, startling me. He’d been quiet up until now.
I watched him carefully. Most Fire Circle Hunters thought I’d made some deal to survive. I’d assumed he was one of them.
“It’s not a situation that’s—”
“What, Ben?” Kian asked. “Easy? Straightforward? Her entire team was murdered before her eyes in a massacre the Fire Circle could have stopped if you’d all believed them in the first place.”
“Kian,” I warned. As much as it emboldened me that, for some reason, he was defending my honor, it wasn’t his place.
“No,” he continued. “Ava’s team uncovered a plot by Talon to turn Ember ether fully into demon magik. That’s what you said when you assigned me to her, right, Ben? That is huge, and it implies there’s much more going on in Landshaft than we’re aware of. And since, Aloysius aside, they’re the last big demonic organization around after your team dismantled Shadow Crest, I think that’s worth looking into.”
Ben turned to Dacher and they shared a look that seemed to hold the weight of an entire conversation.
Finally, Ben said, “That doesn’t change the fact that we can’t go to Talon and take them out. Or stop them. We don’t have the manpower. And that’s why, even if we knew where Landshaft was, we wouldn’t go there. Never mind the aura sickness that’d debilitate or kill any Hunter who got close.”
That, at least, made sense. I’d never felt aura sickness, the burning weight on your soul that resulted from too many demonic auras and too much demonic power in one place. But if ever aura sickness was to be felt, it was in the heart of the hidden demon city of Landshaft.
“And as to whether or not my team can assist,” Ben continued, “they’re otherwise occupied. As am I.”
“Can’t step away from being a Leader candidate to do your job?” Kian asked.
Ben shot him a glare, his fists clenching at his sides. “No. And half my team is in Alzan, carrying out diplomatic duties, before you try accusing them of going on vacation.”
Alzan was once thought of as a mythological city, but Ben and his team had saved it. Two of his teammates are supposedly part of some prophecy sent by the Powers, by Good, to save the world. Or something. Like I said, I wasn’t really up to date on the magikal side of things. I’d never had a reason to be.
“Enough,” Dacher said when the bite of Ben’s words made even him cringe. He looked to me. “Will is to remain here under Bria’s watch. We will do what we can for him. And as he’s not necessarily Talon’s target—”
“Except as a means to get to me, you mean,” I said.
Dacher nodded. “Except in that case, him staying here for the next day or two is probably fine. But you must disappear again from their radar. Kian, I want you to take her to the safe house. It’s guarded by magiks that should keep you both hidden and safe. Return in the morning after I have time to speak with the other Leaders. I will not put the Fire Circle at risk because of Talon, least of all with important delegations coming through.”
I lifted a brow. “But you’ll keep Will here where they know he’ll be? If he can stay, so can I.”
Ben shook his head. “It used to be that the Circles’ Headquarters were no-go zones, like how Hunters didn’t bother trying to attack Landshaft or the homes of Old Ones, like Lady Azar. But ever since Alzan came into the picture, those sacred honor rules have been gone. The safe house is the best bet for the night.”
“I do not believe Talon will attack Fire Circle Headquarters for Will,” Dacher said. “And they’re smart enough to know we wouldn’t keep you here.”
I ground my teeth together. Dacher and Ben kept admitting the truth—that Talon was indeed too smart for this—but neglecting the obvious: I was a dead woman walking. For some reason, Veynix wanted me dead. And it wasn’t only because I’d survived.
I just didn’t know the real reason why.
“Fine,” I said. “But if Will dies in some attack because I wasn’t here to save him, I’ll—”
“I’ll take her there right now,” Kian said, interrupting me as he crossed the room. “Let’s go, sweetheart.”
My eyes narrowed, anger bubbling in my chest. I ripped my arm out of his grip. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I’ll call you in the morning,” Ben said to both of us, unaware of the thin line Kian was dancing along.
If either he or Dacher knew the truth about how Kian and I had met, or where the attack had taken place, we’d both be jailed in Ether Circle Prison for fighting in those underground rings.
Kian nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll keep her safe.”
Kian walked me to Dacher’s office door and opened it.
But right before we left, Ben stopped us and asked, “How did you two finally meet, anyway?” His gaze settled on Kian. “I didn’t tell you
to make contact with Ava yet.”
“Accident,” was all Kian said before, “Teleportante.”
Chapter 10
In a manner of milliseconds filled with the sensation of Kian’s hand on mine, warm and firm, we disappeared from Headquarters and landed inside of a dark space. The smell of pizza instantly filled my nostrils, making my stomach growl. It had been a while since I’d last eaten anything.
“Hang on.” Kian’s voice filled the darkness only a hair’s breadth away from my ear, then he let go of my hand and disappeared.
“Are we in the safe house?” My voice was quiet, soft, like we were somewhere where speaking wasn’t allowed.
“Yeah.”
A light flipped on, assaulting my eyes. I squeezed them shut as I adjusted to the light. Moments later, I slowly reopened them.
I stood in the kitchen of a small living space with a couch and TV on the other side of a bar counter with stools. A pizza box sat closed on the counter next to a half-empty six pack of craft beer, the brand of which I recognized.
Kian made his way over to the fridge and pulled out two bottles. “I only had time to put in a few for myself before the fight. I know it’s not much, but…” He offered me one of the IPAs.
I took it gratefully. “I need a drink, too. Blues Brothers is fantastic.”
Kian lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve heard of them.”
I related the story of Will’s epic quest to visit the Blues Brothers Brewery in Connecticut once, having tasted their wares at a restaurant. The special trek was against Fire Circle’s wishes, but Will was nothing if not determined. Kian and I cracked open the beers while I sat on the couch and Kian claimed one of the barstools.
“You left New York City just for beer?” Kian asked. He shook his head, smiling. “So unafraid of Talon finding you, yet you’re terrified of Dacher finding out about your champion title in Midnight.”
“Didn’t see you offering up the information, either.” I sipped the beer. “When he asked how we met, you could have told him everything. Why didn’t you?”
Kian shrugged. “I’d have to admit to fighting for Crimson. Selfish reasons only, I assure you.”
“Didn’t seem so selfish when you defended me against their accusations.”
He took a long pull from his beer. “I think you get enough of those from the other Fire Circle Hunters as it is.”
“Well, thanks.” I wanted to ask why he believed me when so many others didn’t. Or, if he didn’t believe me, why he chose to defend me anyway.
Silence fell between us for a few moments. I watched him as he stared elsewhere in the room. This was the first time I’d seen Kian in proper lighting, minus inside Headquarters a few minutes ago. His jeans weren’t black like I’d thought in the ring, but a dark wash of midnight blue. He shrugged off the jacket from his shoulders, revealing a black T-shirt and muscled arms. A tattoo, a ring around his bicep, peeked out from the bottom of his right sleeve, but I couldn’t make out what it was. His dirty-blond hair was messy, but his eyes were an even deeper brown than they’d been before.
“Did you do it?” he asked, looking at me.
My face heated. He hadn’t caught me staring, had he? “What?”
“Make that pact with Veynix that everyone thinks you did,” he said, his expression unreadable.
My stomach dropped. No one had bothered asking me directly before. They either assumed, like most of the Hunters, or, like Ben and Dacher, knew something else had happened, just not what.
“No.”
“Then what happened that night?”
“Not a great subject; try again.”
He leaned forward. “I don’t mean to pry. I’m just curious as to—”
“Why it looks like I have no allies when Talon’s right in my face?” I lifted up the beer bottle in a mock “cheers” motion and drank from it again.
“I was going to go with why everyone’s so concerned about why you survived rather than being grateful the Fire Circle didn’t lose a whole team.”
My eyes narrowed. “Because four other lives were still lost that night. And for some reason I got out relatively unscathed.”
“Minus the poison,” he pointed out.
I stood from the couch. “How is it that you know so much about me and what happened?”
“Because Ben assigned me to you. He thought I should know about my new partner.”
“And I don’t get the same benefit? I don’t even know who you are.”
Kian straightened his back. “I was the champion of Crimson until that fight tonight.”
“What you do at night isn’t who you are; it’s how you make extra money,” I said. “Nice try.”
He considered me for a long moment, then sighed. “I’m a freelancer for the Fire Circle. Have been for a good year and a half now.”
“And before that?” If he’d been in the Circles for as long as I had, there was a good chance we’d gone through training together. Which meant I ought to have known him, but I didn’t.
“I was on a team. Now I’m not.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said as he hopped off the barstool. “That’s why I fight in Crimson’s ring. So that when the freelancing jobs dry up, I can still make enough money to live off of without having to torture myself with a normal day job.”
“The Fire Circle isn’t always great at taking care of all of its Hunters,” I said.
“Especially lately.”
At least that we could agree on.
“Well, thanks again for hopping in and saving us from that attack in the locker room.”
“It’s my job,” he said. “I do have one question, though.”
“And that is?”
He looked at me for a long moment, then shook his head as if he hadn’t found what he’d been searching for. “I get the money side of things. But if you and your friend were both living in that apartment in the city, why not make him work? If you’re such a high-profile target for Talon, why risk being unmasked in the ring and giving away your location? Especially since you had to figure some members of Talon were in the audience to begin with?”
That was not something I was going to admit to Will, never mind a relative stranger. At one point, tempting fate by hoping Talon would recognize me in the ring and end things made sense. The anticipation of wondering when they’d finally find me had been too much.
But now that it was actually happening, now that Will had been made a target again, it wasn’t what I wanted.
I had to stop running.
“I’m tired,” I said, rather than answer his question. “Care if I curl up on the couch?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “You don’t want the bed? I don’t mind.”
First, he defends me, now he’s suddenly a gentleman? We just nearly beat each other to death for money. “The couch is fine, really.”
He shrugged again. “Okay. There’s still pizza in the box and more drinks in the fridge. Bathroom is the first door on the left. Let me know if you need anything.”
In the next breath, Kian was walking down the hall toward a bedroom. Gone.
I sighed and sat back on the couch after grabbing my Fire Circle knife and tucking it beneath the couch cushion nearby.
It was going to be a long night.
“Everyone in the house. Now!” Jeremy shouted, holding open the front door of our one-story ranch.
Em and Liz scrambled inside first, shaking snow off their jackets as they moved. I followed along with Brian at my side. As soon as we all found shelter, he and Jeremy barricaded the front door with a dresser from his bedroom on the first floor of our ranch house.
“That’s not going to do much,” I said, watching the door when my gaze wasn’t crossing to the windows in the living room. This house had so many entry points—too many windows and doors, the skylight in the kitchen. The chimney in the living room. “We need somewhere safer to go.”
“Not Headquarters,” Brian said, his Fire Circle knife still
in his right hand. His grip had white-knuckled around the red handle. “They’ve got the Ether Head Circle dignitaries there tonight. Some sort of amnesty thing being signed.”
“Glad someone’s got enough time to keep track of those do-nothings,” Liz said.
Jeremy shot her a look. “We don’t have time for that right now. We need to report to Dacher regardless of who’s there right now.”
“The last thing he’s going to want to hear about right now with them there is our run-in with the Trade,” Brian said.
The Trade was the over-arching organization which Talon was a part of, all of them responsible for the human and witch trafficking that happened yearly.
Em trailed into the kitchen and looked around. “What if they followed us?”
“We should hide out at Hunter’s Guild,” I suggested, looking up at Brian. “Until we can get to Headquarters.”
The big window in the living room burst open. Shattered glass flew across the room. I ducked, covering my head with my hand. A stone dropped right at my feet, billowing with green smoke.
“What the—?”
Brian pushed me out of the way, cutting off my words. It wasn’t a stone, but a poison bomb, which exploded, sending clouds of poison gas throughout the living room.
“They’re here!” Liz shouted as she retreated down the hall, tugging on Emily’s arm. “What do we do?”
I heaved, my lungs filling with the smoke. My vision clouded over as my legs began to wobble. Jeremy appeared and threw one of my arms over his shoulder. Together, we grabbed Brian and joined Em and Liz.
“We can’t fight them,” Jeremy said. “Not that many members of Talon.”
“We should have never investigated that damn house,” Brian snapped. “We should have waited for back-up.”
No amount of back-up would have helped. For years now, the town had thought it was abandoned and broken down. Now we knew the truth: demons from the Trade had been using it as a hideout, a disguise with stairs into an underground tunnel network, for years, possibly decades. A poison mill for the poisons master class of Landshaft demons. For Talon.
