Hunter Circles Series Complete Boxset: An Urban Fantasy Adventure

by Jessica Gunn

  Ben’s body went rigid, except for his chest, which heaved with every breath he took. Then he turned and launched a ball of lightning at the one wall of ours that didn’t have a neighbor on the other side. The lightning struck, exploding brick and drywall. Enough to make a loud noise but not enough to damage the actual building. He’d controlled it that much, at least.

  “I’m so tired of your games,” he hissed at the twins. “Either do your fucking jobs or leave my house right now.”

  The twins hadn’t budged even an inch. Not a single flinch. They were probably relaying this whole conversation mentally somehow to Chairman Otto and his fellow Command.

  “Ben,” Rachel said, reaching out for him, but Nate pulled her back.

  “No,” Ben seethed. “This is over. We’ll find Riley on our own and the Ether Head Circle will stay the hell out of our business.”

  I stepped toward him, a hand raised in the air. “You need to calm down before they—”

  Ben whipped around to me, more lightning in his hand. “And you. You were with Giyano this morning, weren’t you?”

  I froze. He’d figured it out. “Ben—”

  “Did you know he stole Riley right before that? While you were chatting away with your new friend”—he spat the word—“Shadow Crest was imprisoning my son. Again.”

  My brow furrowed, but I held my ground. I could handle Ben in a fight, new, uncontrollable magik or not. “Giyano didn’t do that. He’s not working for them—he never was.”

  “Are you kidding me?” he shouted. “Why are you so blind when it comes to that bastard? Can’t you see he’s jerking the entire team around?”

  “Maybe we should all walk away and continue this later,” Shawn said as he stood between Ben and me. He had a hand around the crystal hanging from his throat. Another one.

  Idiot. If he yo-yoed with his magik, turning it off and on again, he’d lose it forever.

  “Get out of the way, Shawn,” Ben growled.

  Okay. I lifted my hand and squeezed, hoping to force Ben to calm down if nothing else worked. Nothing happened, except for Ben’s face turning bright red. Oh, fuck. No more telekinesis. I’d forgotten.

  “Are you trying to use your magik on me?” Ben demanded.

  “No, she’s not,” Nate said. “Are you, Krystin?”

  I bit my lip, my gaze darting all over the room. “Using it on you and defending myself from you are two different things.”

  From the corner of my eye, I watched as Alexander grabbed Iris by the arm and pulled her backward into the kitchen.

  Of course. Why help stop a fight that could go public when you could watch it instead and report the result to your superiors?

  “Ben, stop,” Rachel pleaded. “Shawn’s right. We need to calm down and look at this objectively. Giyano saved Riley back in Lady Azar’s lair.”

  Ben’s eyes narrowed, though they remained on me. “Clearly, he wants Riley’s magik for himself.”

  “I can assure you that is the farthest thing from the truth,” I said to him. “Giyano’s done nothing but protect Riley and keep him out of—”

  Lightning flew at my face. Instinct had me swiping the air at the same time a crystal was shattered on the floor across the room. A faintly glowing white block redirected the lightning at the wall behind my head. I ducked anyway, realizing too late the lightning was gone.

  Ben charged at me before I’d fully stood, knocking into me at full tackling force. We tumbled to the hardwood floor of our living room, but I hooked my leg around him and got back up.

  “Stop,” I told him. “This isn’t worth it.”

  “Sandra identified Giyano by his magik and that scar on the side of his face,” he spat. “You admitted to being with him. He’s kidnapped Riley before and he’s done it again. If you have any information about where he is, you need to tell me right now or I’ll bring you back to Ether Circle Prison myself.”

  My heart stopped. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Yes.” His eyes hardened, eyebrows lifting in want of an answer.

  I laughed nervously, backing up a step. How had this gone so wrong so fast? “He was hurt. I went to him this morning to ask about Zanka and how to kill him. But I found Giyano nearly dead.”

  “And did you finish the job as you were ordered to do?” Ben’s words were said with a venom so thick, it had me reaching for my knife. I didn’t want to hurt him with my magik, but I would not go down without a fight. Not from an attack by a teammate.

  I breathed in shallowly, watching not just Ben, but my other teammates and the twins. Their stricken faces. Their expectant gazes. If I lied, they’d find out. But if I told the truth…

  Giyano would never hurt Riley. Ashbel aside, Giyano knew what Riley could do in Lady Azar’s hands. He knew what fate awaited Alzan and all the planes if Lady Azar destroyed the cianza at the city’s center.

  Giyano didn’t do this. I knew it in my gut. But from where Ben and the others stood, I knew I looked as guilty as Giyano did.

  All of this just because of the Alzanian magik inside of me.

  I looked to Shawn, hopeful he’d somehow read my thoughts. He held my stare without giving any indication of help or for me to stand down.

  My eyes fell. Closed. Maybe Kinder was right.

  I gripped the handle of my knife, ready to pull it from its sheath. “No, I didn’t kill him.”

  Ben roared, lightning crackling around his entire body. I drew the knife and fell into a defensive stance. Ben lunged for me even as an orange ether flame enveloped his body and pulled him to the ground.

  “Don’t!” I shouted at Shawn. “If he wants to attack me, let him.” My fingers grew warm, fire sprouting around my hands. The air around my Fire Circle knife started to wave like a mirage.

  Ben fought against Shawn’s Ember witch magik, repeatedly striking the ether shield with his lightning and trying to get off the ground. Nate ran to my side and Rachel to Ben’s. The Ether Head Circle twins remained standing stone-still in the doorway to the kitchen, letting this all unfold.

  “Leave,” Nate said, a hand held at the ready in case Ben managed to break through Shawn’s hold. “Get out of here until he cools down.”

  “You expect Ben to just ‘cool off’?” I asked, not taking my eyes off of Ben. “He won’t. Not now. He’s insane when his family’s involved.”

  “And when someone he trusts betrays him,” Rachel said, loud enough to be heard over the crackling of Ben’s lightning.

  “For the love of god, people,” I said. “I’m not working with or for Giyano!”

  “Then why did you go to him?” Nate asked.

  I glared at the twins. “Because no one else took the threat of Zanka seriously. It was Zanka who attacked Sandra and Riley. Giyano said Zanka knew where they were.”

  “What?” Ben boomed, his lightning smacking against Shawn’s shield with great abandon now. Shawn winced with each strike, his body tensing. He wouldn’t be able to hold Ben for much longer. “You knew?”

  Fucking hell. “I was going to tell you Giyano was attacked by Zanka. Zanka’s working for Lady Azar, trying to impress her by doing whatever he can to get back into her favor. And that includes fulfilling all the missions Giyano failed at.”

  “Like kidnapping Riley for her to use on All Hallows’ Eve,” Rachel said, her words small. “Oh, god. That’s eight months to build up his use of the Power.”

  “You knew Riley was in danger and you didn’t tell me,” Ben hissed.

  “I was trying to.”

  “Trying isn’t good enough.”

  He was right. I should have left Giyano there right away, bleeding to death on his couch, and run back to Ben. But I didn’t. I had to go all noble and save Giyano’s life instead. Maybe at the price of Riley’s.

  “Ben, I’m sorry—”

  Ben broke through Shawn’s shield at that very moment, sending a massive strike of lightning my way. I threw up my hands, fire at the ready, and thought of anything hot enough to dissolve Ben’s a
ttack. The sun. I thought of the sun, just like Giyano had taught me.

  When Ben’s strike hit, the fire in my hands grounded it, dissolving the lightning into nothing. But my fire didn’t stop. The flames trailed upward with the motion, sliding across the space between Ben and me. His eyes went wide and, so quickly I almost missed it, he drew his Fire Circle knife and lunged for me again.

  We traded blows, none of them hitting. I narrowly avoided being swiped by his blade with every one of his swings. Rachel gasped but backed away, Nate with her. Only Shawn jumped in, trying to separate us. I swung behind Ben, aiming to knock him out, but he turned too and—

  Lightning struck out but didn’t hit me. I stood there, stunned, as Shawn jumped in front of me and took the brunt of the strike at the same time as he landed a punch to Ben’s jaw.

  I stumbled away, giving myself space from Ben.

  “Shawn!” Rachel shouted.

  Ben looked down, stopping his attacks. “Oh, no.” He fell to his knees beside Shawn.

  I did the same, checking for a pulse. It was hard to find with Ben looking, too, but— “He’s alive.” I fell back onto my haunches and looked up at the ceiling. “What are we doing?” Ben had almost killed both of us. The only real chance his son had of not being turned into a human power vessel.

  Ben’s stare cut to me. “Stay the hell away from me until the Ether Head Circle determines your loyalties.”

  “Giyano did not kidnap Riley,” I told him. “There’s no way he could have, not with the timeline we know.”

  “I don’t care,” he snapped. “He’s involved and that’s enough for me.”

  Alexander and Iris had reentered the room once the fighting stopped and walked over to Shawn. Iris lifted her hand and produced a produced a light blue glow. “Move aside. We’ll heal him.”

  Without saying a word to them or each other, Ben and I backed away from Shawn and watched Iris heal him. Shawn eventually opened his eyes once more, settling on me. He nodded once.

  What? You wanted us to fight?

  Not that he could hear me.

  Someone’s phone rang. Then another, and another, until all five of our phones were ringing.

  I pulled mine out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. “Jaffrin.”

  Ben nodded. “He wants us at Headquarters. Another body’s been brought in.” His face paled. “A Hunter this time. This will have to wait, Krystin.” Then he walked away, as if we hadn’t fought at all.

  I looked at Rachel, wondering if this was normal for Ben. But she shook her head.

  None of this was normal.

  And none of these people trusted me.

  Chapter 15

  BEN

  For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, my team gathered around a dead body in the Fire Circle Headquarters Infirmary. A woman Hunter, whom Jaffrin had recognized as Jeanette, a freelancer. Her tongue had been torn out of her mouth, her shirt torn open to reveal runes carved onto her chest.

  “She doesn’t have any magik,” Nate said, the corners of his eyes wrinkled. “Wasn’t she an ether-shaper?”

  Jaffrin nodded solemnly. “Yes. This attack is consistent with the other two you described to me.”

  My fists curled. “You mean Giyano did it.”

  I was still ripping pissed. That Krystin had known, that she hadn’t warned me that Riley and Sandra had been about to be attacked—she’d done nothing to stop it from happening. We were supposed to be a team. Instead, I had Krystin running off with Giyano, Shawn trying to protect her, and the original three of us just trying to get out of this alive.

  I couldn’t wait to take out both Giyano and Lady Azar for all they’d done. And this Zanka, too, if he was actually involved. Which I doubted. Everything about these attacks screamed Giyano being at fault, not some copycat. Why waste the time?

  But then there was a cynical, questioning part of me that knew there had to be someone else who hated that bastard. We couldn’t be Giyano’s only enemies. And if most demons had once been human, then they were as likely to exact revenge and screw each other over as we were.

  Maybe Zanka really was mimicking Giyano to egg us, or another team, into finally killing him.

  Jaffrin lifted the sheet around Jeanette’s body and covered her completely. “Yes. And we can now confirm that.” He looked to Krystin. “There’s evidence. Which means that if the Ether Head Circle has proof you’ve been anywhere near him recently, they’re going to put you back in jail.”

  Her eyes lit aflame. “I told you I only went to him to ask about Zanka because you all didn’t believe me.”

  “Rightly so,” Jaffrin said. “And now that you’ve admitted to me that you’ve disobeyed a direct order—”

  “You got all of that out of me asking him about Zanka?” Krystin asked, hip cocked.

  “No,” Jaffrin said as he picked up a phone from a metal tray of Jeanette’s belongings. “In the time it took you to get here, Alexander and Iris Rowe informed me of what occurred this morning.” He settled his disapproving stare on me. “All of it.”

  “Sir, I can explain.”

  He held up his hand, silencing Krystin. “I sure hope so, Ms. Blackwood. But you’ll be doing it to Chairman Otto like you should have all along. I ordered your team to save you from that prison because I thought you were innocent. It turns out I might have been wrong all along.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You’re kidding me.”

  He shook his head. “No. Here, this video was on Jeanette’s phone when she died. We went through her belongings to make sure her family didn’t receive anything that called attention to the Hunter Circles.”

  Jaffrin turned the video toward Krystin and me. It was shot from Jeanette’s point of view, as she was the one holding the phone. She was walking down the street, talking about movies or something to herself, every now and then pointing out a building or landmark.

  “We think she was filming while on patrol to either bait demons into attacking her or because her younger sister was set to start college here in the fall,” Jaffrin said. “It was meant to be a tour video, possibly.”

  Jeanette kept talking, but after about twenty seconds, she cursed and the phone tumbled out of her hands to the ground. Sounds of a scuffle followed until Jeanette landed right next to her phone, coughing up blood. The video recorded her death and what Giyano had done to her.

  Rachel and a few of my other teammates turned away, but not Krystin and me. We watched until the very end when, standing above Jeanette, Giyano grinned evilly, fire in his palms.

  The video ended in a burst of flames.

  Krystin’s gaze shot to Jaffrin. “I didn’t know about this. I don’t know about anything he’s doing.”

  “Except kidnapping Riley,” I snapped.

  She shook her head. “No. Giyano was the one who told me Zanka had done it. Maybe his power is to imitate people. He’s got the same scar Giyano now does. Giyano said Zanka gave it to him.”

  “You know about his scars?” Nate asked. “How much time did you spend with him this morning?”

  Krystin’s face paled. “Not much. Enough for him to tell me that Zanka knew where Riley was, and that when Zanka was done playing with us, he’d go to Canada.”

  “Even I didn’t know where Riley was until Sandra called from the hospital,” I said. Maybe Krystin really wasn’t at fault here, but with every coincidence, with all the evidence now pointing at Giyano, I didn’t know.

  I didn’t know anything anymore.

  “Let’s go find Giyano and kill him already,” I said.

  Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “Think if we could, we would have already?”

  I shrugged. “Hell if I know. Everything’s changed. Plus, we have Shawn now. And if Kinder was scared of his power, then Giyano will be.”

  “Except Ashbel was an Ember witch,” Krystin said. “Giyano will not be afraid enough to submit.” Then, under her breath, she added, “Nothing will make him do that.”

  “Enough!” Jaffrin be
llowed. “This—all of it—I want none of this leaked to the Ether Head Circle until I’ve decided what to do with this team. With Giyano on the loose, nothing is safe anymore.”

  “And Lady Azar,” Nate said. “That asanak should have worn off by now; if not, then soon. Once she’s at full power, we’ll be targets again.”

  “Probably not since she already has Riley,” Rachel said.

  I frowned. “So we go back to her lair and attack them again.”

  “No one is going to do anything,” Jaffrin said. “We have a fallen Hunter to mourn and bury. And when that’s done, I’ll have to save the lot of you from the Ether Head Circle’s wrath. I want you all to go home and stay there. No patrolling. No going after Giyano or any other demons. No using magik. Stay inside and work through whatever emotional crap you’ve got going on. Because I’m done with all of you.”

  Which was fine because I was about done with the Fire Circle anyway.

  I just need to find Riley. Then I’m out for good.

  “Yes, sir,” I said, not looking at anyone but him. I needed space to think. Time to figure things out.

  Like how to find Lady Azar or Giyano, and a way to kill them both.

  “You’re dismissed,” Jaffrin said, anger and frustration lacing every word he said. A vein in this temple throbbed. “Out of my Headquarters.”

  We returned home, everyone using their own teleportante. And when we got to the house, everyone went their separate ways, ignoring each other and the Ether Head Circle twins.

  The house was the most silent it’d ever been.

  Chapter 16

  KRYSTIN

  Giyano hadn’t taken Riley. But it was definitely him on that Hunter’s video. Both things were true and, without being presented a third option, I didn’t know which to believe.