by Jessica Gunn
“You mean that que sera, sera stuff right? Whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen, no matter what we do?”
He nodded. “This war is bigger than any one Hunter or team of Hunters. It’s been fought since before Alzan fell the first time thousands of years ago, and it’ll likely be waged for another thousand years.”
“We need to win the battle, not the war.”
“Yeah,” Nate said. “Exactly.”
Guess that made sense. I stood up and stretched out my back. “Guess it’s about time we finish this team battle, then.”
My phone rang before thoughts of how to fix my team formed in my head. Shit. I tugged it out of my pocket and looked down at the caller ID. “It’s Jaffrin.” I glanced up at Nate. “He’ll know I’m back after all.”
Nate pointed to my phone. “It’s charged and ringing. He already knows.”
“Shit,” I said as I swiped the screen and connected the call. “Yes, sir?”
“Headquarters—now,” he said, his tone low and hurried. “Bring your whole team.”
My stomach dropped. I didn’t have my whole team. But he didn’t need to know that. “Be there in a minute.”
“Now, Ben.” The call clicked, disconnected.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the screen. “Well, that’s not good.”
“What?” Nate asked.
“He wants to see all of us right away.”
“Think it’s about the Landshaft house?”
“I have no idea.” I pocketed my phone again and moved to the stairs. “Get ready to go. I’ll get Rachel and Shawn.”
We filed into Headquarters three minutes later and were immediately ushered into the great hall in the basement. All of the Fire Circle’s official business and special meetings were held here, although it’d recently seen use for more than that. If Jaffrin had us gathering here to discuss Krystin or the bounty hunters’ house from last night, then he must want to use the protection magiks that made it so no one could listen or teleport in on our conversation. Just like he’d done when Jaffrin had ordered us to break Krystin out of Ether Circle Prison. They still hadn’t forgiven him for that, although I was sure the tension between our circles had only grown after Kinder and Krystin had destroyed Fire Circle Headquarters earlier this year.
I walked down the stairs first, half-expecting to see a large contingent of Ether Head Circle representatives again. But instead of pale yellow robes and holier-than-thou attitudes, what awaited our team seemed far more innocuous: people with CIA jackets.
“Well, crap,” Nate said as we descended the stairs. “That can’t be good.”
“No,” Shawn agreed. “But this means whatever he’s called us for isn’t about Krystin.”
“You don’t know that,” Rachel said. “Maybe she did something that caught their attention.”
“They’re not supposed to be up here.”
The CIA was tied to the Water Circle by way of a mission gone awful wrong many years ago. They’d formed a partnership as a response, CIA agents mixed with Hunters into an organization called Hydron. Months ago, when Kinder had attacked Boston, we’d discovered Hydron had been running operations up here to track what Landshaft had been up to. But the Water Circle covered the lower half of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. As far as I knew, the CIA only knew about the Fire and Water Circles, not the rest. And surely not the parent Circles back in Europe.
“This isn’t their territory,” I said. “Even with the new agreement.”
“Then it means another leak has occurred,” Nate said. “That’s the only explanation.”
“Glad you could join us,” Jaffrin said as we finally reached the bottom of the stairs and clamored onto the stage platform. The Hydron agents and Jaffrin had gathered there, Jaffrin with both hands behind his back.
Deferring to them, interesting. “We came as fast as we could.”
Jaffrin’s gaze wandered past me to my team. “I see Ms. Blackwood is missing.”
“She’s busy,” I said, meeting his glare with one of my own. “You have nothing to worry about.”
He lifted an eyebrow, but I didn’t back down. Jaffrin didn’t scare me and neither did these Hydron agents. Krystin hadn’t done anything wrong since returning to Boston. If he wanted to arrest her, Jaffrin and all of his new friends would have to go through me first.
“We’ll see about that,” Jaffrin said finally. He turned and gestured to the Hydron agents beside him. “Our friends from Hydron have come to apprise us of a growing situation.”
“Max?” Rachel asked, stepping around me.
“Max?” I asked.
But she was looking at the group of four Hydron agents. One had turned at Rachel’s voice and he winced. “Er. Hey, Rachel.” He was as tall as me, but tanner with nearly black hair and dark eyes. He took a step but paused, looking back at not only Jaffrin, but also the other agents.
Rachel stared at him for a long moment before saying, “I didn’t realize you were a Hydron agent.” Her eyes narrowed. “I assume that means you knew I was a Hunter, though.”
Max frowned. “Yes, but it’s not what it sounds like.”
Heat lapped my neck. I’d known Rachel was seeing someone, but she hadn’t told any of us the details. And that he’d messed with her on top of it all. Not a good first impression. I locked eyes with Max. “Why were you interested in my cousin, then, Max?”
Rachel pressed a hand against my arm as my muscles tensed. I was just about done with all these assholes messing with those I considered family. “Ben, don’t. It’s okay.”
Max sort of smiled and reached out a hand. “You must be Ben. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I’m sure you have.” I kept my hand to myself.
He didn’t miss a beat but did pull back his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“I’m sure.”
One of the other Hydron agents cleared his throat, an older man with graying hair cut short. “You can figure out your love life later, Max. If we could get back to the subject at hand, that’d be preferable.” The way he said “preferable” made it very clear what would happen if Max didn’t get his shit together.
I fully agreed. Asshole. Lying to my cousin like that. I’d see to it he never lied to her again.
Rachel squeezed my arm. “Back off, Ben. I’m warning you.”
“Sure,” I said, not intending to follow through at all. She knew it as well as I did. “If your brother were here, he’d act the same way.”
“Well, he’s not, and you’re not my brother, so back off.”
Jaffrin dropped his tablet louder than necessary onto the podium at the center of the stage. “We called you in because there have been breaches in information regarding keeping the Hunter Circles a secret.”
I looked to him. “We know that. Saying the warehouse burnt down nine months ago because of a gas leak was a shitty idea.”
The older Hydron agent turned to me. “It was the best, quickest option we had at the time.”
“Agreed,” Jaffrin said. “But this concerns something else. Agent Dennis here has been watching our specific situation closely for the past few months.” Jaffrin’s gaze settled on me. “Since Riley was taken by Zanka and Sandra was attacked.”
I closed my eyes and waited as my gut twisted over itself. A cold sweat broke out on my brow, as if I’d never recovered from the aura sickness at all. First, Jaffrin had sent me to that Landshaft house by myself. Then Giyano had brought Riley before me as a demon and said he was scared of what Jaffrin knew. And now this.
“What the hell could possibly be wrong now?” If it wasn’t about Krystin and we knew where Riley was, I didn’t see what the problem could be.
It was Max who spoke this time, his expression falling. “Sandra’s been talking. A lot.”
I opened my eyes and stared at him. “She wouldn’t. Sandra knows what’s at stake now. Where Riley is and why.”
“But not that he’s a demon,” Jaffrin said.
&nbs
p; I glared at him. “Don’t talk about Riley anymore.” My words were harsh, but after last night, I didn’t want to hear jack shit from him.
Max walked toward Rachel and me. “As far as we know, she’s told her mother, who doesn’t believe her. And a friend. But she’s alluding to plenty on social media and it’s concerning because of how close she is, and because of what happened here in Boston nine months ago.”
Agent Dennis held out a file folder to me. “Inside are all of her social media posts. They’re starting to pick up traction, even though, from what we can tell, very few people believe her. Stories about demons stealing children are hard to believe. But Riley’s been back and forth to her care many times now, and her suddenly moving to Canada doesn’t exactly work in our favor.”
“We moved her and Riley to protect them,” I said, shaking the file folder with every word. “That wasn’t even my decision. Why are you telling me this?” If it’d been my choice, they would have stayed here, wards of the Fire Circle inside Headquarters.
And they probably would have burned in Krystin and Kinder’s attack.
“Ben,” Jaffrin said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You need to go to her and tell her to stop.”
“Have you ever tried telling Sandra to do anything?” I snapped. “Because I have. Plenty of times, none of them successful.” All throughout high school and college, even after Riley had been born. The only person more stubborn than myself or Krystin was Sandra. At one point, I’d loved her for it. Now… I ran my hand roughly through my hair. “I can try, Jaffrin, but I doubt it’ll work.”
“It needs to. If the Fire Circle is revealed to the world, so too are the rest of the Circles. Darkness’s empire. The war.” Jaffrin shook his head. “The chaos caused by the revelation alone would allow Darkness the in they need to win. If you can’t convince Sandra to keep quiet and cooperate with us, then you might as well doom us all.”
“Except that you screwing Krystin and me over fucked us all already,” Shawn snapped out of nowhere. I looked back at Shawn, shocked. We all did. He stood there with his hands clenched at his sides, his jaw locked and back straight. Red blotches had appeared on his cheeks. “You had the stone. It’s fucking gone because you didn’t just hand it over to us. Alzan will burn in nine days because of what you didn’t do. What the hell does threatening an innocent woman scared about losing her child get us? Honestly.”
“Shawn,” I warned. I’d go toe-to-toe with Jaffrin any day, but that kind of outburst right now would not help our case, or Sandra’s, at all.
Jaffrin’s eyes narrowed dangerously on Shawn. “Where is your other half right now?”
Shawn swallowed hard. At least his non-answer was easy since I was pretty sure none of us knew where Krystin had gone.
Jaffrin looked to me. “Ben?”
“We don’t know.”
His nostrils flared. “How do you not know? You agreed to keep an eye on her.”
I shrugged. “Oops.”
Jaffrin’s chest rose in a long, heavy breath during which a thousand emotions—anger, desperation, disappointment, exasperation—crossed his face. Then he seemed to turn to stone, unreadable. “Go,” he told the Hydron agents. “Leave us for a moment.”
Agent Dennis collected Max and the others and they retreated up the stairs.
When we were all alone, Jaffrin said, “The only reason I did not call for Krystin’s arrest last night because you said you had her under control, Ben. So I ask you again, where is she?”
“I cursed her out for being untrustworthy,” Rachel said. “She walked out. But it’s you we can’t trust. You sent Ben on a suicide mission.”
Jaffrin’s brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”
“Rachel,” I said, reaching for her. Her words danced along the line of treason.
She brushed me away. “No. It’s true. You sent him to that house without backup. And do you know what happened? Riley was there with Giyano and dozens of other Shadow Crest demons. Ben could have died, Jaffrin. So no, even if I knew where Krystin was, I wouldn’t tell you because you clearly don’t care about the Hunters still on your watch. I’m terrified of what you’d do to one you hate.”
Jaffrin slammed his fist on the podium. “The Hunter Circles are about to be revealed to the entire world because one person, who shouldn’t even know they exist, is opening her mouth.” His glare cut to me. “Ben, you are to go to Sandra and convince her to stop. Bring her back here if you need to; I no longer care. My duty is to the Circle first, my Hunters second.” His glare moved to Shawn next. “Find Krystin and bring her back. As your team so kindly pointed out, you have nine days to figure out the prophecy. Good luck.” He roughly grabbed his tablet from the podium and then turned back to us, anger flaring on his face. “You’re dismissed. Go. I don’t want to see any of you again until you’ve completed those tasks.”
My teeth ground together as my jaw slid left and then right, my muscles aching from holding everything I wanted to say in that moment. Anger boiled over into rage as I glared at Jaffrin, staring him down for all he was worth. “Yes, sir.”
I should tell Dacher, both about his threat to Sandra and everything else. But I was done being the tattletale. Instead, I threw the file folder to the ground and turned to march back up the stairs. My team followed on quick feet.
When we got to the top of the stairs and marched back out into the lobby, I turned to Shawn. “You find Krystin and bring her back to the house. We’re using your plan.”
“Plan?” he asked, anger still written on his features.
“We’re leaving the Fire Circle and figuring this shit out on our own. Find her and ignore everything else Jaffrin has ever said or will say from here on out. We don’t answer to him anymore.”
And if he hurt Sandra in any way, I’d kill him.
Chapter 15
Krystin
As soon as the teleportante landed in the woods of northern New England, I hurried inside Hunter’s Guild. I didn’t even need my Fire Circle knife to identify myself with. Apparently everyone knew who I was now, especially those who frequented Hunter’s Guild.
The team might yet find me here, I’d surrendered to that fact. Same with Giyano or any demon bounty hunter who was still being sent after me. But I didn’t intend to stay inside for long. I just needed time—and the space—to use this dharksa. And then I’d be home free.
After slipping into an empty room on the second floor, dodging anyone who might question why I hadn’t paid for it before going inside, I shut and locked the door behind me. The bed wrapped me in peaceful safety as I fell onto my back on top of the comforter.
The room wasn’t larger or smaller than a normal hotel room in the normal world. In fact, the only difference between this and a chain hotel were the walls and ceiling made from wood rebuilt by magik after Kinder had torn the place down.
Everywhere I looked lately, it was like Kinder or Giyano had touched something around me. The mark on my hand. Hunter’s Guild as a whole. The Fire Circle. Cianza Boston. Even the dharksa in my hands could be traced to Shadow Crest and Lady Azar, and therefore Kinder and Giyano as well.
Screw them. I’d prove them all wrong.
I held up the dharksa, still inside its tiny plastic bag, in front of my face. The cinnamon-scented powder looked so innocuous from afar, like it didn’t let you see what you most desired at best, or on a bad trip, drive you mad with illusions and hallucinations until you accidentally hurt or killed yourself without knowing it.
And yet there it was. The drug I used to deal in exchange for information about the on-goings of demonic activity in Boston. About the location of Landshaft, the demon city.
“One last time,” I whispered to it. “Just you and me.” I slipped my finger into the top portion of the bag and slid the Ziploc open.
The doorknob on the room’s door jiggled loudly.
I zipped the baggie shut again and sat straight up. Even if someone managed to get inside, they couldn’t hurt me without also severely
hurting themselves. That was what the protection magiks Hunter’s Guild was famous for provided for its clientele. A neutral area. But the non-violence magiks didn’t mean they couldn’t drag me out kicking and screaming.
The door handle tipped sideways and I scooted off the edge of the bed. “Don’t you fucking dare!” I shouted at the door. “This room’s occupied!”
The door handle froze. “Krystin? Are you in there?”
Shawn.
My mouth dried out in an instant, as if I’d stepped into a desert. “No.” Stupid.
“It’s me. Let me in.”
My free hand clenched into a fist at my side. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m here alone, Krystin. I’m not going to turn you in or whatever you’re thinking. In fact, that’s exactly what I need to talk to you about.”
“Fuck off.” I backed up a step. There was no way Shawn was actually here by himself. Not if they were intending to bring me in or convince me to come back. Especially since, of all people, Shawn and Rachel were the last I’d expect to beg me to return.
“Ben sent me,” he said, his voice quieter this time. “Something’s happened with Sandra and Hydron. I need to explain and I have a message from Ben.”
“Why’d he send you?” I asked, walking up to the door. “Ben should have come himself if he wanted to convince me of anything.” Although I did want to know what Sandra had to do with Hydron, or how they’d even get in contact since she was supposed to have been in Canada.
“He didn’t. Jaffrin did,” Shawn said. It sounded like his head was right against the door now.
“That makes me feel a thousand times better.”
“I know. Believe me, I get it. Here.” He went silent for a moment before a piece of paper was slid underneath the door. “Read that. Then open the hell up so I can explain.”
I bent down and grabbed the paper off the ground. It had my name on the front in Ben’s handwriting, which I’d only seen once before at Headquarters when he’d filled out paperwork for Riley and Sandra’s move.
I flipped open the folded flap. Inside was a short note:
