Broken Angel (Book 1 in the Chronicles of a Supernatural Huntsman series)

by Shannon Lee Martin

  Holly spent two weeks in the hospital ward recovering from the injuries she sustained from the werewolf attack. Each day she looked a little better, but it was clear she would carry the scars of that night forever. This seemed to bother me more than it did her. She insisted her new face made her look even more like a badass Huntsman. All I could do was laugh along and agree. Her face truly was intimidating.

  The brutal loss of Gordon Scott hit everyone hard. Initiates and instructors walked around with somber faces. They went through the motions of the day, but in their minds they couldn’t get the image of him sprawled out on the pavement, his chest cavity ripped open to reveal a hole where his heart should have been. The look on his round, terrified face is what will haunt me for all my days—he saw the attack coming. His heart had left his body while it was still beating.

  David Yu took the death especially hard. He had never lost an initiate on a hunt before. This made me wonder if he had ever really lost one in training either, or if that was something he said just to intimidate us. For weeks afterwards, he kept mostly to himself, his face long with sorrow and regret. I knew what he was feeling. We both thought we should have been able to save Gordon Scott. The guilt tormented me in my sleep.

  The day before Holly returned to our room, I paid the Records Room a visit. Ever since I had found out what the Goblet of Demons could be used for, I craved more information about it—anything that would give me a clue as to who was really behind stealing it. As far as I could tell, they hadn’t gotten their hands on it yet.

  I had my suspicions surrounding Rashne, but I didn’t want to accuse him without being completely sure it was him. After all, he hadn’t shown any malicious signs or weird behavior since the night of the redcap hunt. He treated me with the same kindness and admiration as always. That didn’t rule him out, but it certainly put doubt in my mind. The Records Room was just the place to sort out the details of my suspicions.

  I didn’t think I could go any further underground, but as I followed the signs I traveled several narrow staircases downward. At the end of the last one was a simple wooden door with a small window in it. On the glass it said “Records Room, managed by Barnaby Phillips”. Quietly, I opened the door a crack and peeked my head inside.

  There was already someone there, talking to the pale man behind the desk. I blinked rapidly and did a double-take to get a better look at the department head. His entire body, clothes and all, were void of any color, leaving him with an eerie gray pallet. His eyes shone a bright silver where black pupils should have been. Barnaby Phillips was a ghost. At every turn, the Chamber surprised me with who they entrusted with their heavy, dark secrets.

  I could only see the man standing in front of the desk from the back, but immediately I knew who it was from his hooded cloak and gloved hands. My heart skipped a beat. It was exactly who I had been looking for all along. My mind raced with questions on how to proceed. It was my first and possibly only chance to stop him before he unleashed billions of demons into our world. I stayed stuck halfway through the door, leaning forward to hear their conversation.

  “I need the records for every portal location run by the Chamber,” the cloaked man’s somewhat familiar voice said.

  I couldn’t put a face to it. All I knew was that I had heard it before. It wasn’t as deep as I had expected, and the man wasn’t as tall as I thought he would be either. My suspicions of Rashne were becoming more unfounded the longer I stood there. But then who was it?

  “I’m sorry, but those records can only be accessed by the Head of the Chamber herself,” Barnaby Phillips answered, his voice hollow and bored.

  “Yes, she is the one who told me to come and retrieve them for her,” the man spat back with annoyance.

  Barnaby stared at the cloaked man with empty silver eyes. His face was unflinching. “I’m sorry, sir—” he started to say, but a loud bang cut him off.

  The mysterious man slammed his gloved hands down on the hard wooden surface of the desk. “I order you to give me those records immediately or I’ll have you banished from the Chamber and destroyed by our Huntsmen!” His frazzled voice echoed throughout the large, dimly lit room.

  I took a deep breath in as his voice dissipated into the stuffy air of the basement. He turned halfway to look at me, his face mostly covered by the hood of his cloak. The only thing I could tell for sure was that he wasn’t a Djinn. His lips pursed together to make a straight line. Other than that, there was nothing I could use to identify him.

  He whirled around and took off further into the room, his cloak flowing behind him as he fled. Without thinking, I burst in after him.

  “Miss, you have to sign in,” I heard Barnaby calling after me half-heartedly.

  I was already too far gone. The traitor wouldn’t be allowed to escape this time. I would catch him no matter what and bring him to the Head of the Chamber myself.

  The room’s ceiling went upward for what seemed like miles with shelving just as tall. The tops disappeared into the shadows, folders and records piling high into the nothingness. Lights were sparsely attached to the shelving at ten feet and no higher. They cast a dim orange circle of light onto the concrete floor, just enough for me to see the traitor ahead.

  The man ran with great speed. It was impossible to catch up. This surprised me since I was the fastest in training and had outrun the redcaps. I thought I could easily gain on the traitor and take him down, but he grew smaller as he ran far ahead of me.

  He jutted around a corner to disappear behind another row of shelves. When I caught up, I found the area empty and quiet. The traitor was nowhere in sight.

  Heaving heavy breaths, I looked both ways. Nothing. I had lost him. My face fell as I thought about how close I had been to catching him. How was he faster than me?

  “Miss Paige? What are you doing here?” a familiar, frazzled voice said from behind.

  Vice-Head Rutherford was standing with a bewildered look on his pale face. His navy blue tie was loosened at the neck and his white button-down shirt was wrinkled and partially untucked. In his hands he carried a large stack of folder and files.

  I didn’t answer, but scrutinized him with my narrowed eyes.

  He let out a small chuckle and looked down at himself. “Sorry for my appearance. I’ve been up all night gathering files for Head Buhari.”

  My shoulders relaxed a little. I unclenched my jaw and let my face return to normal. “That’s okay, sir. I was just…trying to do a little extra research for class.”

  “Ah,” he said with a smile. “This is a great place for that. Quiet for studying. It’s the perfect place if you don’t want to be found. No one ever really comes down here. I come when I need solitude to work. If you want to find books on creatures of the Darkness you might want to head over to aisle 10809.”

  I made the corners of my lips turn upward, though inside I wanted to scream about letting the traitor get away.

  “You didn’t happen to see anyone else down here, did you?” I asked.

  It was worth a shot.

  “No I haven’t.”

  My face fell. I stared at the floor with my hands pressed firmly into my hips.

  “Just David. He walked by me in a hurry about a minute ago.”

  My eyes widened as I looked up. The traitor was David Yu. I could still catch him myself to bring him to the Head on a silver platter. Vice-Head Rutherford had once said the Chamber expected great things from me. Maybe this was it.

  “Thanks, sir.”

  I turned and headed in the opposite direction. If I stayed any longer he might ask more questions. I walked up and down several aisles before I stopped and rolled my eyes. It was no use. David had gotten away. At least I knew what I was up against. I rushed back to the hospital ward to visit with Holly in her last hours there.