Next to the House of Hybrids there was a smaller stone building that sat up on a small hill. Over the last few weeks, when I had stared out a window, I had witnessed small children come in and out of that building, but I hadn’t found out exactly what they were doing. Now the door to the building flew open and children came running out. Their laughter could be heard all the way from where we stood.
A tiny boy belly-flopped onto the ground and rolled in the snow. Since it was barely covering the ground, he came up muddy, which made him laugh harder. Their joy was contagious. Even the Puppeteer had a smile on his face.
He looked over at me. “Would you like to go play with them? Soon, we can sled down the backside of the hill.”
“Sled? And you join in this activity … with the children?”
“Of course I do. I’m not a total bore.”
Before we started walking toward the children, I asked, “What is that building? A school?”
His smile dropped. “They do learn and study there, yes, but it’s a home for them. They are orphans.”
“Hybrid orphans?”
He shook his head. “No, but I think the subject might be a little heavy for pre-sledding.”
Without another word, he began walking. Once again, I trailed after the Puppeteer.
Before we could get halfway up the hill, a teenage boy ran up to us, taking off his toboggan before addressing the man next to me. “Sir, may I have a word?”
As the Puppeteer strayed off the beaten path with the young boy, I watched the snow fall, pretending not to observe the conversation that was going on five feet from me. It was clear that whatever the boy had told the Puppeteer displeased the man.
I jumped when the Puppeteer clapped the younger boy on the back. Then the boy ran back in the direction that he had come from.
Without looking at the Puppeteer, I asked, “Everything okay?”
“It seems that we have missed our opportunity for sledding. Something has come up. Follow me; we need to talk.” He didn’t wait for me but marched back into the house.
As I followed behind, I studied his muscular back, silently wondering what he could possibly need to talk to me about. Then I realized that this was the first time I had seen him since I had struck the unrivaled. Not once, but multiple times. He was probably taking me somewhere to be punished.
“Easy,” he said as he took a left at a corridor until we came to a flight of steps. I had never been in this part of the house. His heavy boots hit the metal stairs as he went up. “Your fear is smothering me.”
“Do you want me to apologize for being afraid of you? Because that would be pure stupidity on my part.” It wasn’t my fault that he was scary as hell.
He mumbled something unintelligible as we continued up the stairs. Finally, he opened a door. Another hall was in front of us.
“Tell me,” he said, “this fear that you aren’t trying to control, what is it suddenly over?”
I could lie, but what would be the point? “You know I haven’t seen you in the last week.”
“Little Thorn, did you miss me?” Humor coated his voice.
I was thankful that his back was turned to me, because I couldn’t stop the blush that was coming across my face.
“No,” I said. “I was thinking I haven’t talked to you since the Tim incident.”
“Incident? Oh, you mean when I killed him for his atrocious sins? What about it?” He acted like I had just asked him about the weather.
“Well …” All of a sudden, more nervous that I was the one having to remind him about Tim, I stuttered, “I … I hit him.”
He scoffed. “I witnessed it. It was a weak, puny attempt of taking down someone who not only outweighed your small frame by eighty pounds but was also more powerful.”
I went from being fearful that he would punish me over the incident to enraged that he thought my attempts of defending myself were puny. “I think I did great since I hold no power.”
He chuckled, which only infuriated me more. “So you keep saying, Little Thorn.”
I gritted my teeth as I followed him down the long hall. “Of course this is over Tim. I mean, why else would you want to see me alone? I understand that I shouldn’t have hit him, that it wasn’t my place to do so, but—”
I almost slammed into his back. That was how sudden he stopped. Then he turned to face me. He stood a foot taller than me, so I had to crane my head back to make eye contact. There was so much rage behind his gaze that I forgot to breathe.
Before I could take a step back, he said, “Do not apologize for defending yourself. Ever. Do you understand?”
I nodded in fright.
His blue eyes were smoldering as they raked over my face. Then his nostrils flared in anger moments before he turned and stormed off. It took me almost running to catch up with him.
At the end of the hall, he swung a door open. “This floor is where I have my office. Please enter.”
I tried not to fidget as I walked into the room. Bookcases ran along the wall with more books than I could ever imagine. The last time I had held a book was when I had been a younger teenager. I had been reading about a man from the Wild West who had integrity and pride. The book had been my favorite. At some point, someone had stolen it from our shack. I could still remember trying not to cry over that western.
I shuffled my feet, bringing myself closer to the bookcase. When I was within touching distance, I trailed my fingers over the spines. Then, realizing the room had grown quiet, I felt myself blush with embarrassment as I stepped back from the bookcase. When I didn’t feel my face flaming anymore, I finally turned around to see the Puppeteer studying me.
He stood in front of a huge wooden desk that was stained black and sat on a massive rug that made me want to take my shoes off to see if it was as squishy as it looked.
He pointed to a chair in front of his desk. “Sit, please.”
On wooden legs, I walked over to the chair then silently dropped into it. Surprising me, he took a seat on the corner of his desk, facing me. I moved my legs out of the way so they wouldn’t touch his. In return, he smirked at me.
“I have to leave on a business trip. There has been turmoil going on amongst the houses. A power play of sorts. I’ve been trying to visit all the houses to figure out who all is behind this unrest.”
I drew my brows together. “That’s why you were at the House of Ash?”
He nodded. “The House of Ash has always wanted more. More of everything. They continuously burn through their assets so they always need more.” He let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that it is them who is creating chaos between the houses.”
“What kind of chaos are we talking about?”
He pierced me with his blue eyes. “The kind that would have a lot of casualties.”
It was always the humans who were caught in the crossfires. Instead of saying that, though, I remained quiet, waiting for him to tell me why exactly I was here.
He narrowed his eyes at me like he had found a bug in his sheets. “That hair color is rare. What is even more rare is when you pair it with your eye color. Plus, you smell different. Now that you’re clean, your scent is even stronger. I believe that you are not human.”
My mouth dropped open. “Well, I can assure you that I am.”
“I really wish that were true. You are going to be a nightmare for me if you aren’t.”
What in the world was he talking about? And who just goes around smelling people?
“So, let me get this straight; you can make puppets out of people, tell when they are lying, go through their most sacred memories, and now you can scent if they are human or not?”
“I try not to brag, so I’m glad that you put all of that out there,” he deadpanned.
“Funny,” I said. “Well, I can promise you that I am human.”
“I make it my job to know all, and the fact that you are a mystery to me is a thorn in my side.”
“Again, funny,” I said.
A smile was on his sexy face. “I’m leaving right now to go to the House of Deception. It is not in the top five major houses, but it is part of the secondary houses—the minor houses. It’s actually the smallest house in Old Georgia. I’d like for you to go with me.”
“Uh … no?”
He pulled his head back like he had been slapped. “Did you just tell me no?”
I leaned back in my chair, trying to create more space between us. I must be mad. “Um … thank you for the offer, but I can’t go.”
Now he crashed his brows together. “You are the first person to ever tell me no. I don’t like it.”
“Sorry?” I squeaked out.
“Tell me why the refusal.”
I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “Medical condition.”
His lips twitched. “Huh, that’s interesting. What if I told you that, if you travel with me to the House of Deception, there is a good chance that you could have some answers as to who your family is?”
This had to be a trick. “How would they know that?”
He shrugged, knowing that he had my attention. “I guess you will have to travel with me to find out. We leave in an hour.” He waved a hand toward the door, letting me know that the conversation was over and I was free to leave, dismissing me with little care.
I stood on wobbly legs. I didn’t want to be alone with him, traveling to somewhere I had never been, but I couldn’t lie. I was intrigued. I had often thought of my family with questions like who or where they could be, or the biggest one of them all: why. Why did they desert me?
Was I scared of the Puppeteer? The man who had strung up a kid and killed him with a flick of his wrist? Yes, I was terrified. But I couldn’t turn down the opportunity of finding out information on my past.
Before I made it to the door, I spun around, looking him dead in the eye as I said, “Is it important to you that I go with you to find out who my family is—was?”
“I wouldn’t say I care one way or another about your lineage, but I do care if you are more than what you seem and you’re under this house. There are a lot of people here who need protection. I can’t give them that if I don’t have all the facts.” He stood up slowly. “My father built this house for the unrivaled who had more powers than one. Do you know why?”
I shook my head.
“Because the other four major houses had decided that powerful hybrids were a threat to all.” He took another step closer then another. “It’s always about power. The soldiers needed more power. The serum was created. The humans were scared of the power, so they went after the unrivaled. The unrivaled needed to show the humans who held the power, so they made them workers. There are fifteen total houses registered, but they needed to know who the top five were, so again, the most powerful became the five major houses. The smaller houses compete against each other to hold their ranking. It is always about power. Everyone wants to be number one.” He took another step, and I retreated until my back bumped into the doorknob.
“And who is number one?”
He reached for me, and like the coward that I was, I clenched my eyes shut. I knew I had asked too many questions.
I felt his hand reach behind me, and then there was the sound of the knob turning. Flashing my eyes open in surprise, I moved to the left as he started to open the door.
He bent his head to mine. “Why would you even need to ask?”
With his closeness, he was trying to get under my skin. I refused to let him.
I cleared my throat. “Fine, I’ll go with you, but I have a request.”
“You do realize that you are not in a position to make requests.”
I tried to swallow the dry saliva. “Again, I have a request.”
He was amused by me. I could tell by the way his eyes danced over me.
“Tell me, thorn in my side, what is this request?”
“I’ll go, but I ask that you try not to kill anyone.”
“I’m sorry? Say that again.”
I felt like I was going to hurl right on his cushy rug. “If you want me to go with you, I want you to try to refrain from, um … killing people while I’m with you. I know that the guy from early this week—”
“Tim.”
“Yes. Tim was a jerk. A horrible, evil jerk. But I think I will have nightmares of his death for as long as I live. I’m not saying you can’t ever kill again, just maybe not with me around.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You do understand that I saw all the things that Tim did, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I kind of figured you were doing that mind thing on him when his eyes went all vacant.”
“Would you like for me to tell you what he did to young women as a hobby?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“I have never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it, but I can promise you that I didn’t punish Tim enough.”
I thought back to that day. Tim had lost fingernails, teeth, and had had broken bones protruding from his skin. “That bad, huh?”
He nodded. “That bad.”
“But if you could try to not kill, that would help me mentally.”
“I appreciate the fact that you stood your ground, even though fear is permeating from you. If you aren’t human, like I suspect, then you will have to do a better job of controlling your emotions because most majors love the smell of fear. And as far as your request … denied. If you don’t want to see me kill, then close your eyes.”
I stood there, just blinking at him.
“You can go now, unless you have another request.”
My heart was pounding. I wanted nothing more than to run out the door, but I made myself pretend like I was thinking it over. Then I tilted my chin up. “I think that’s it for now.”
As I turned on my heel, I heard him laugh. I was glad one of us thought this whole situation was funny. Meanwhile, I had almost died several times from heart failure. At least I was amusing to him.
I had convinced Raven that I knew what I was doing, though it was apparent that I had no clue. I had packed a few of the plain brown tops and drawstring bottoms that all the workers wore, but the Puppeteer had forced me to leave them behind, saying my worker clothing wouldn’t be acceptable.
Since when did workers try to become accepted by the unrivaled? And did he not notice that I was currently wearing worker clothes?
After I had said my goodbyes to Raven and Geralyn, the Puppeteer walked me outside through the snow that now coated everything. My feet were soaked through the thin moccasins as I climbed into his huge vehicle. Then, before I knew it, we were on the road.
The Puppeteer had the heat blasting, so I put my frozen toes under the warm air coming from the floorboard. I watched from the corner of my eye as he shed his jacket while driving. Then he rolled his sleeves up and finally unbuttoned a few of the top buttons on his shirt. He was too warm, yet he had seen my wet feet and was using the heater for my benefit. This man was a walking conundrum. He was lethal, yet I had seen acts of kindness from him.
Without speaking, he reached into the back seat and grabbed a blanket, tossing it into my lap.
“Why are you being so kind to me?”
Without taking his eyes away from the road, he said, “If you aren’t human, then that means that someone had your powers bound before you were found floating down the river. There are a few reasons that someone would go to those lengths to bind you. If I was a betting man, I would say it’s because you belong to one of the major houses and, for whatever reason, they didn’t want anyone to know that. I need the binding off.”
I kicked off my wet shoes then turned slightly in my seat so I could see him better. One hand gripped the steering wheel, and with his sleeve rolled up, it showed the strength in his forearm.
“Why?” I asked.
“Four of the five major houses are always in a play for power. The ranking amongst them and even the minor houses constantly change. The House of Ash was ranked number five, but no
w they are ranked number three.”
I never knew that the houses competed against each other. “How do they get a higher rank?”
His gaze left the road for a second as he looked at me. “By killing the head of the house.” He thumped his thumb on the steering wheel. “That’s why my father retired from the house four years ago and put me in charge.”
I tried not to show my disgust, pity, and shock, but I had a feeling I was failing. “Your father retired so that you would be the head of the house? So that you would be the one who the other houses would go after?” What kind of father would do something like that?
A smile lit his handsome face. “I appreciate the outrage that you have on my behalf. I must say that, once again, that’s a first.”
“How can you not be outraged by this?”
“Simple. My father is a hybrid. Both of his parents had powers from different houses. They hid it from the world because this was during a time when hybrids were hunted down and killed. My mother’s parents weren’t hybrid, but she came from a different house than my father or his parents. I’m a mixture of all of them. My father is extremely powerful, but not nearly as powerful as I am. It was not cowardice on his part. It was stepping to the side to announce that the greatest weapon to ever come forth would rain down on any who tried to hurt a hybrid.”
“And you are that weapon?”
“I am.”
I was quiet for a few moments, just lost in my own thoughts. Then I said, “You are defending your father for putting a target on your back because you don’t believe that you are actually a target? You must love your father very much.”
His grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Actually, I loathe my father. If I ever see him again, I’ll probably be the one to send him to his maker.”
My mouth rounded in shock. I stuttered, “I’m … I’m sorry. I … I just thought that … I don’t know why I thought you—”
House of Deception: The Unrivaled Series Page 6
