by Jessica Gunn
I leveled him with a look. “You’re really jaded. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“You’ve been a Hunter as long as me, Ava. You know that’s how it is in the Fire Circle.”
I swallowed hard. That was how it used to be, back before Dacher had become the Fire Circle Leader. But our previous Leader had been a liar and a traitor, and from everything Dacher had said, it was clear the previous Leader only cared about Hunters with magik.
“Dacher will be different,” I said. “He already has been.”
It was Kian’s turn to offer a hard stare. “Yeah? Then tell me why we’re hiding out at Hunter’s Guild right now instead of Headquarters.”
I glared at him. That was the same damn question I’d asked him. But… “Point taken.”
“We can still get you seen by a healer in the morning,” Kian said. “But until then, it’s this or a hospital, and last I checked, we’re trying to stay off the radar.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the door. “Some radar. I feel like everyone knew who we were.”
Kian cringed again. “Yeah. Again, that’s probably because of me, not you.”
“Are you going to explain that?”
“After I stitch you up.” He grabbed the whiskey bottle from the bedside table and offered it to me. “Drink up.”
Ugh. A sinking feeling sprouted in the pit of my stomach. This was a bad idea.
Still, I uncapped the whiskey bottle and drank a few small swigs. It’d settle my nerves at the very least.
“Fine,” I said when I was done. “Get it done fast.”
I leaned back onto one hand and grabbed the edge of the bed with the other. Kian gently cleaned away the blood despite the stinging his touch produced. I squeezed the edge of the bed but kept quiet. After rummaging through his first-aid kit and sterilizing everything, he went to work on the stitches. His deft hands made quick work of the procedure, leading me to believe this was far from his first time stitching anyone up.
“You’re a freelancer,” I said when I was sure my voice wouldn’t waver.
He nodded. “Hence the triage skills. The Circles don’t pay enough for medical bills. And ever since Lady Azar got overthrown, demons have been out of control. Headquarters’ Infirmary can’t handle all the injuries.”
“And magik wounds can be hard to explain to emergency room nurses.”
“Exactly.”
The power vacuum created by Lady Azar’s fall had opened up room for various Darkness factions to gain favor. Talon, although already high up on the food chain, was one of them. Supposedly, their new leader was once Lady Azar’s right hand. And given how radical she’d been, it was no surprise then the lengths to which this new leader, Jerrick, was willing to go to hunt down Ember witches and increase their trafficking.
The question that had always remained was: Why? Ember witch magik was very nearly demonic, which made their transformation into demons easy. And sure, their magik was rather volatile. But other than the war in general, Darkness didn’t really have a goal anymore after Lady Azar’s plan to destroy Alzan had failed.
There must be something.
Kian’s warm fingers brushed a particularly ticklish spot. Despite the pain, I jumped, smiling sheepishly.
“Sorry,” he said, looking up in worry. His eyes were rounded, as if the feeling were actually genuine. “I’m trying to be gentle.”
“It’s okay.”
His worry turned into a small smile as he realized what had happened. “Ah. Right. Well, almost done.”
And another minute later, he was. I stared down at the stitched wound, surprised to not find a hack job. The entire area still throbbed with pain, but the whiskey was aiding with that.
“Thanks,” I said, looking up at him. “That wasn’t bad at all.”
He grinned, then took to packing up the kit again. “Practice makes perfect, I guess.”
My brow furrowed. “How often do you get injured?”
He chuckled. “Inside or outside of the ring?” He lifted a hand to run a finger along his swollen nose. “You seem to keep trying to tip the balance in the ring’s favor.”
“Sorry.” I said. “Like you said before, the ring was just business.”
He nodded and ran a hand through his dirty-blond hair. “I know. We had some good fights, though. You have to admit that.”
“You’re definitely craftier than the demons they usually pitted me against.”
Kian reached for the bottle of whiskey and drank a long pull from it. “Right back at you. It was a good change, if not a welcome one. Sorry about your mask. I realized my mistake the second it came off.”
“You didn’t know who I was beforehand?”
He shook his head. “No. I wasn’t supposed to make contact with you for a few days, and I certainly never expected to find you at Midnight.”
“You and Ben both,” I said dryly. “He’d kill me himself if he knew.”
Kian waved the notion off. “No, he won’t. He’ll be royally pissed, but he’s good to other Hunters. Especially the freelancers. I don’t think Dacher’s the one who will bring the change we need.”
“So you’ll vote for Ben if they let us?” I asked.
I hadn’t yet been a Hunter the last time a Leader had been actually elected. Usually, the next Leader was second-in-command to the last one. But Dacher had been made stand-in Leader after the last one had turned traitor. And since Dacher had had to elect a whole new Command to advise him, new Leader candidates had been drawn from the top team leaders in the Fire Circle. Ben Hallen had been one of them—which was how he also had been assigned to my case after my team had died.
“If they let us.” Kian stood from the bed and made his way over to the couch. “I’ll take it this time. You need something better to sleep on. No arguments.”
I lifted my hands. “None here. This hurts like a bitch.”
He chuckled again, though none of this was funny. “You’ll make it. I promise.”
Kian shouldn’t have promised something like that when all of Talon was after me. Even I didn’t know how I’d escaped last time. But miracles didn’t often happen twice.
“I’ll give Ben a call now,” I said. “Then I want you to explain to me why you think Talon was after you just now.”
Kian’s eyes lit up with fear. “Don’t tell Ben.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want them worrying about me when it’s you who’s in real danger.” His words were said quickly, but the urgency there was lined with something else.
“Right,” I said slowly, then walked over to the rotary phone sitting on the bedside table. I’d lost my cell phone somewhere along the way. And since Kian hadn’t offered his, I had to assume the same for him.
I dialed the number I now knew by heart and waited as it rang. Once, twice. On the third ring, Ben picked up.
“Hello?”
“Ben, it’s me, Ava.”
A moment passed where nothing was said. “Where are you calling from?”
“Hunter’s Guild. The safe house was attacked. Kian and I barely got out.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, his words rushed and sharp.
“Mostly. Kian patched me up, but we think coming to Headquarters might be a good—”
“The delegation is still here,” Ben said, but unlike earlier today, his voice sounded conflicted. “Honestly, and you’re not going to be happy to hear this, Hunter’s Guild is just as safe as Headquarters right now. I can’t really explain why because it involves—yes, Dacher will see you in five, Avery’s holding calls until then—sorry.”
Another moment passed, then Ben continued, “It’s just equally safe. Dacher and I are meeting with Jolene, the Leader of the Water Circle in a few hours. We’re hoping we can get you two moved down there, possibly under Hydron watch, until we can send a few teams after Talon.”
Hydron was made up of Water Circle Hunters and CIA operatives. The organization had been created when a mission
gone wrong for the Water Circle had ended up with government involvement. Being in Water Circle territory would put plenty of space between me and Talon, but there was no guarantee it’d actually be secure enough during an attack—least of all at Hydron’s base.
“Where?” I asked. “Unless you’re going straight for Landshaft?”
“Absolutely not,” Ben said, his voice hard. “No one is. Not even you, so don’t get any ideas.”
“The Fire Circle could literally never pay me enough to go there,” I said. “Don’t worry about me.”
Kian rolled his eyes. I wasn’t sure how much of the conversation he could hear from the other side of the room, but he must have known the context of my words. He lifted his hand and wiggled it in a “Maybe for the right price, I would” manner.
“So, just to be clear, you don’t want us to come to Headquarters,” I said.
“No. Not until this delegation is gone and we can get a hold of Jolene,” Ben said. “Come in the morning.”
“That delegation must be pretty damn important,” I said under my breath.
“Ava.”
“What?” I asked. “You know that everyone else who knows what’s going on is thinking it. Your team has done worse to Headquarters than Talon is likely to do before Jolene takes us in.”
“I’ll call you in the morning,” Ben said, his words tight, as though he were speaking through clenched teeth. “You’re safe at Hunter’s Guild unless you’re in dire need of medical attention.”
My gaze drifted to Kian as he took another pull of whiskey. “Kian took care of me.”
“Good,” Ben said. “I knew he would. He’s a fantastic freelancer.”
With ties to Talon. I bit my tongue to keep from speaking it aloud. “How’s Will doing?”
“Better,” Ben said. “Bria’s making him as comfortable as possible. He’ll have long-lasting pain, as you know, but I think you got him to Bria in time.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. See you in the morning, Ben.” I hung up the phone.
“Said exactly what we thought he’d say?” Kian asked.
“Yeah.” I eased into the bed and stared up at the ceiling, wincing as the pain returned to my side. “We’ll head there first thing tomorrow.”
Kian set the bottle of whiskey aside. “Sounds good.”
“Now tell me why Talon is apparently after you.”
Silence passed between us for moment before he frowned and said, “I wasn’t always a freelancer.”
“I figured that.” Most freelancers started out on a team, but then various other circumstances and desires led to them going solo. I’d never want that, even if it was almost what I had going on now.
Well, until Kian came along and apparently became my partner. Solo before, duo now.
“I went through training with my team, then we got officially assigned together,” he said as he kicked off his shoes. “We were only together for a year before we went on a mission and got mixed up with Talon.”
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. “You too?”
“Don’t think of it as something that makes our situations in any way the same,” he said, suddenly curt.
“I don’t.” But Ben must have known some of this, regardless of whether that was why he’d assigned Kian to me out of all the other available freelancers.
Kian pulled in a breath and then continued. “Basically, we had a recon mission go wrong. It was supposed to be a normal demon den, just a very busy and large one. But when we got there we found Talon waiting for us instead. As if they’d known we were coming.” He brought his hands together and wrung them. “Point is, my team got scared after barely making it out alive. I don’t blame them for that. It’s what happened after.”
My stomach dropped. Had Kian’s team also died? Maybe that was the real reason Ben had assigned him to me. Not because we both needed a partner—if not a whole team again—but because our situations mirrored so well. If that were true, what Ben had failed to note was that bringing together two grief-stricken people in the face of a familiar adversity didn’t always end the way the movies liked to portray it.
“Did they…?” My mouth froze around the last word, unable to say it.
“No,” Kian said as he dropped his hands. “But they might as well have.”
A flash of anger thawed any hesitation left in me. “What’s that mean?”
“They left the Circles, Ava,” he said, giving me a hard stare. “They turned tail after one mission gone wrong and left me behind. That’s how I ended up a freelancer.”
“And you’d rather they be dead than alive and not afraid?” I couldn’t even fathom what he was saying. “If it was a choice between what I have now, with me alive but my friends dead, and me remaining in the Circles with them alive but not Hunters, I’d take it. One hundred percent, I’d rather have that. At least then they’d still be alive.”
Kian’s fiery stare didn’t waver. “But they’d be cowards just like my old team.”
I sat up and shot him a hard stare. “Cowards live to fight another day.”
“Unless they run and hide while the war draws closer,” Kian said, not standing to match me. His voice was cool. Cold enough to show that even though it’d been some time since they’d left, he still hated them. “I can understand being scared. What we do isn’t simple or even rational. Pushing ourselves to fight demons, and for what? This war’s been going on for thousands of years. And both of our teams were around last year when Lady Azar nearly took over the world, so don’t get on your high horse and defend those who are still alive to fight if they’d just get the hell over themselves.”
I bit my tongue so hard, a copper taste filled my mouth. “You mean like me?”
His stare softened, but only minutely. “Ava—”
I rolled my eyes and laid back down. “Not everyone’s as strong as you, Kian. Some of us still have reasons to fear death and those we’ll leave behind by dying. I’m almost sad for you that that’s not the case for you.” I rolled onto my good side. “I’m going to get some sleep.”
“Wait a second—”
“No,” I said without turning to face him. “You want to bash your team, go for it. If that’s what you need to do to wake up every morning, that’s your thing. But even though they left, remember that they were strong enough to become Hunters in the first place. If they left that behind, they had a damn good reason.”
“Unlike you, who tempted fate every damn night in Midnight’s ring. Then when Talon shows up to take the bait, you freak.”
“I’m still here, aren’t I? Thank you for stitching me up. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Then I pretended to fall asleep. I wished I could actually sleep, but even the whiskey wasn’t helping with that. All I could think about was Jeremy and Brian. Em and Liz. The day I’d been assigned to their team and the day I’d had to call their parents for funeral arrangements.
They weren’t cowards. The only one who had been a coward was me.
But I was ready to fight again.
For them.
Chapter 12
Six Months Ago
“We need to see Dacher now,” Jeremy said, stopping just short of stomping his foot like a toddler. Instead, he pounded a closed fist on the counter.
Lissandra, Fire Circle Headquarters’ front desk admin, stared up at him with a stiff jaw. “You’ll have to wait like everybody else, Jeremy. This is not a good time.”
“It never is,” Brian spat as he walked away from the front desk. “There’s always something going on in this Circle.”
“You don’t understand,” Jeremy pleaded. “We just almost died on patrol. We discovered something about—”
Lissandra stood and crossed her arms. “I’ll let him know you were here and that something important has come up. But beyond that, you’ll have to wait for an appointment.”
“It has to do with Landshaft,” I interjected. “You know, the demon city we all fear?”
Lissa
ndra’s eyes narrowed before she reached down and picked up her phone and dialed a number. A moment later she said, “Hi. Yes, I have Jeremy Denning’s team here for Dacher.” She paused, waiting, then nodded. “I relayed as much, but they insist it’s urgent. Okay, thank you.” She hung up the phone. “One of the leader candidates will be down in a moment. Both Dacher and his Command are tied up in ambassador duties for the duration of the day.”
I rolled my eyes, stifling a groan. We’d almost just lost our lives and uncovered one of the biggest Trade operations in Fire Circle history, and we got sidelined for ambassador duties? What more could Alzan possibly need right now? That city of the Powers could defend itself. We all knew that after what had happened last year.
“Thank you,” Jeremy said through gritted teeth. “Should we meet them halfway?”
Lissandra shook her head. “They’ll be down momentarily and you’ll speak with them here.”
“Here,” Jeremy echoed. “In the middle of the lobby? Can’t we go somewhere more secure?”
She gave him a hard stare. “I’m not in charge of where and when Dacher, his Command, or the leader candidates conduct their business. Feel free to take it up with them, though.”
I cringed. Lissandra hadn’t deserved our ire, but she also didn’t understand.
The Trade was making a new poison. A poison that’d hurt us all.
Ben Hallen appeared a moment later, ambling down the stairs. He had deep purple bags under his eyes. “What’s the emergency?”
Oh, great. Of all the leader candidates, we got to speak to the one who probably couldn’t handle this situation. I turned and walked away from them but stayed within earshot.
“The Trade is making a new poison,” Jeremy said.
Ben’s jaw locked. “They usually are. That’s what they do, Denning. Poisons, assassinations, bounty hunting—”
Jeremy stepped toward him. “You don’t understand. We found out they’re making a poison from Ember witches.”
