Felix also had to explain to them who I was since they knew all of the graduated Lovac and it wasn't anywhere near graduation season. Once they learned who I was, they treated me like I was a celebrity. According to Felix, I practically was. Everyone in the facility had already heard about me and what I could do. They all wanted to meet me and apparently some of the upper class Nesmyr were already interested in hiring me for jobs.
Except Nesmyr and other Lovac weren't the only people who wanted to meet me. As Felix and I were leaving the basement Riley meet up with us in the hallway.
"There you two are. I've been looking everywhere for you," she said, slightly out of breath.
"We were just getting Avery some new clothes. Did you hear that she's been approved to start taking jobs?" Felix asked.
"I did," Riley said. "Congratulations. That's part of the reason I've been looking for you. I wanted to introduce you to a few of our allies. Thorkell and Thistle came to greet the newest recruit."
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Well," Riley started, glancing at Felix quickly. "Thistle is a fairy and Thorkell is a demon but he's on our side."
She rushed to finish the last part of her sentence when I opened my mouth to protest. "There is no way I am meeting a demon. One of them killed my mother and I plan to hunt her down."
"Thorkell knows the demon that killed your mother. He wants to help. He’s the demon the council has been trying to contract for information. He's also a very dear friend to some of us."
"Especially a certain Lovac," Felix muttered under his breath and Riley punched him in the arm.
"What does he mean?" I asked, not catching on to their joke.
"Thorkell has a fondness for a Lovac named Leslie. I don’t think you’ve met her yet but you’ve probably seen her around. She’s one of the tallest Lovac, which makes her perfect for a demon and her blonde hair is at least three feet long. Thorkell always follows her around and everyone knows Leslie’s crazy for him, even though he’s not her Dimidium."
I remembered the Lovac they were talking about and I felt like I had an instant connection to her. I glanced at Felix then and felt myself blush. I felt the same way about him. Part of me wondered if Leslie felt guilty for having feelings for someone she wasn't meant to be with and the other part of me wondered if she ever thought about just being with him and not worrying about a Dimidium. I wanted to be with Felix and not worry about whether either of us would find a Dimidium or not but with Riley’s prediction, I didn’t have that option.
"Thorkell is really going to regret chasing after her if she ever finds her Dimidium, though," Felix said, looking right at me. Riley knew that something was going on between us but she chose to mind her own business and changed the subject back to meeting these new creatures. I gave her a grateful smile. I didn’t want to bring mine and Felix’s problems out into the open.
"I promise Thorkell won't hurt you," she said. "Him and Thistle just want to introduce themselves in case you ever have to work with them in the future and Thorkell wants to give you the information on the female demon that he has."
I sighed. "Alright. I'll meet them."
Riley dragged me to a room on the main floor that I had never been to before. The tingling in my body started before she even opened the door. Inside, two people were waiting for me that were radiating so much power that I was sure my body was visibly vibrating in sync with the tingling I could feel inside. No one seemed to notice though.
The sight of Thorkell shocked me. He was almost two feet taller and wider than me although he didn't look much older. His horns were actually visible from where they protruded out of his long mane of dark blonde hair. He had stubble on his chin and a smile that flashed pure white teeth.
His voice was deep and husky when he spoke. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Avery," he said as he shook my hand. His grip was gentle and he bent down to kiss the top of my hand, his black eyes locking with mine, before letting go. "I'm truly sorry to hear about what happened to your mother."
I heard Riley choke on a laugh when I stood there speechless and blushing. I hadn't been expecting this demon to be such a charmer. Before I could get my mind to work again the fairy stepped up next to Thorkell to introduce herself.
"My name's Thistle," she said with a slightly squeaky voice. Her curly red hair bounced when she moved and freckles dusted her face. She was the complete opposite of Thorkell in height and bulkiness. She was much shorter than me and very petite. The light pink color of her eyes made her look almost alien.
I shook her hand and finally found my voice enough to say, "It's nice to meet both of you."
"I can't stay for long," Thistle said. "I just wanted to introduce myself and give you my business card. If we fairies can ever help you with anything, please let me know. We make a large variety of enchantments and potions and you should come visit my shop someday. I know a lot of Lovac don't like to use our products but it never hurts to take a look."
"Thank you. I definitely will," I said, taking her business card.
She shook my hand once more and before I could even say goodbye she disappeared, causing most of the tingling sensation I could feel in my body to disappear as well. Riley explained that fairies were the most magical of all of the creatures in this world but never used any of it to harm someone. They were pure goodness.
Thorkell laughed at that. "I don't know about pure good. Some of them are a little mischievous and their prices are ridiculously high."
"Well I guess I should say they're as good as a person can get," Riley corrected herself. "They can definitely be mischievous sometimes."
"Now, on to my business," Thorkell continued. "Avery, I wanted to give you some information on the demon that killed your mother. I saw the video tapes from the hospital and I believe her name is Kamila. She's one of the crazed demons and has been for as long as I can remember. She enjoys the taste of blood and feels empowered with it. She is very good with her magic but not so much with basic fighting skills. If you go up against her, try to remember that most of her magic is just illusions. She can conjure some tangible items but not much."
"If she likes the taste of blood," I started, trying not to think of how gross it sounded. "Then why didn't she do more to my mom than just break her neck?"
"Because you caught her in the act. I guarantee that if you hadn't walked in on her, she would have done much worse. Either that, or she was commanded not to do more. Riley told me that she may be working with a Zhulik."
"Yes," I confirmed.
"While it's very uncommon for a Zhulik and demon to work together, it has happened. They're probably helping each other to get to some common goal. Unfortunately, I could not tell you what that is. That's all the information I have for you."
"Do you have any information on how I can find her?"
He shook his head, with honest concern in his eyes. "We have a hard time keeping tabs on most demons. I have some of my most trustworthy men searching for her and if we have any information, you’ll be the first to know."
"Thank you," I said, sounding a lot more disappointed than I meant to. I shook his hand again and tried to make my voice sound more grateful when I said, "Thanks for willing to help me."
"My pleasure, and I assure you that most demons are like me and not like Kamila. Please don't be frightened by us."
"I'll do my best," was all I could say.
He nodded his head and then morphed into a dark cloud of smoke before disappearing.
"Well, that was interesting," I said after a moment of silence.
"You get used to other creatures popping in and out after a while," Felix said.
"How am I supposed to find Kamila?" I asked, completely ignoring his statement.
Felix and Riley looked at each other. I knew I wasn't going to like their answer.
"We don't," Riley said. "It's nearly impossible to track a demon around our world. They don't leave much of a trail. We have notices up to report any sightings of her but th
at's all we can do. We're trying to track Lucas but he's been roaming this world for thousands of years and no one has been able to hunt him down."
"So I'm just supposed to sit back and wait?"
"No," Felix said. "We're going to take as many jobs as we can and hope that we run into them or something comes up. You won't be sitting around, trust me."
"When can we start?" I asked, feeling a strong desire to take out my frustration on someone, even if it wasn’t who I wanted.
"That eagerness is going to get you killed," Riley muttered, a sour hint in her voice. I had to remind myself to be cautious around Riley but I didn’t have to patience right now. "Good luck on your first job. Just take it easy and try not to go too crazy."
I actually laughed at the double meaning to her statement and was glad to see a smile on her and Felix’s face too.
To my surprise, she gave me and Felix a quick hug before she left. I could tell that she was worried about both of us and I worried she might have had a vision about my next job. I told myself that she would warn us if she had and her concern was normal.
Chapter 19
Back in my room, Felix explained that the job finding process was all done online now. There was a special server set up for Nesmyr to post jobs they had and for Lovac to express their interest in them. The Nesmyr who set up the post had the final say in who got the job but only a few Lovac would ever apply for one at a time.
For special jobs like bringing home a newborn Lovac baby, a group of Lovac would be summoned to the council meeting hall. Those Lovac didn't really get choice of whether or not they wanted the job, they were just assigned to it.
There had been a small package on the floor waiting for me in my room. Inside of it was a paper with a username and password to get on to the server and a small cell phone.
"Make sure you memorize your username. It's going to be your lifeline from now on," Felix said.
I rolled my eyes.
"It's how you'll get paid so you can buy clothes and your own house if you wanted to. It's your new full-time job, so make sure you know your login."
"Alright, alright. Don't be so dramatic."
Felix taught me how to log onto the computer and access the job listings. They were sorted into categories from high importance to low. Felix told me to search the low importance ones first. Once I was more experienced we would start looking at the higher importance ones.
"This one says their fourteen year old daughter was taken by a Zhulik last night," I read. "How is that low importance?"
Felix sighed. "Our politics are severely screwed up. The only reason this is of low importance is because this is posted by a lower class family. If this was an upper class child it would be of the highest importance."
"That's so wrong," I said, shaking my head. "I want to take this one. It's not fair that the upper class Nesmyr get all of the good Lovac."
"It doesn't pay very well," Felix said.
"I don't care. I have plenty of money and we can take better paying jobs when I get more experienced."
"Alright. Post a reply that you're interested and then sit back and wait."
I did as he said. Seconds after I hit the submit button on the reply, my new cell phone was ringing. Felix told me the number for my phone was already programmed in my profile on the server and if the family was interested in hiring me for my help they would call. This family was desperate.
The father of the young girl was the one who called me. He explained that his wife was far too emotional to talk on the phone right now. He told me where they lived and said he would tell us everything he knew as soon as we got there.
Since all of the Nesmyr and Lovac lived in the forest near the facility, their house would be a short drive. I didn't expect to being going out on my first job immediately but Felix told me to start packing my backpack with gear. Before we left, we stopped at the clothing shop. I picked up my items and changed into one of the outfit so I could carry my stake with me.
We walked out of the facility and Felix led me to one of the many cars parked there but he turned and blocked me from getting in the car.
"I just want to warn you that there is a very good chance we won't find the Zhulik that took this girl and even if we do there's a small chance she's still alive."
I took a deep breath. I didn't think about that yet and I still didn't want to. If it came to that, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle it.
"We still have to try, don't we?"
He nodded but didn't say anything. He opened the passenger side door for me and walked around to get into the driver's seat. He started the car, adjusted the mirrors and typed in the address to the house we were headed to in the GPS. Then we were off.
"You seem a lot tenser than I imagined you would be," I said.
He glanced at me and gave me a sad smile. "I've taken a few of these jobs where someone's child has been taken. None of them have ended well. I try to avoid them now. I prefer the jobs that don't involve someone being kidnapped."
"You should have told me. I could've picked something else."
"No." He shook his head and reached over to squeeze my hand. "I saw how much you wanted to do this and I think it will be good experience, too. I just hope we can save this girl, for all of our sakes."
We drove through the winding roads of the forest without saying another word, holding hands the whole way. I watched all of the trees go by and was amazed at how green everything was. I was so used to living in flat places all of my life and never seeing anything as beautiful as forests and mountains. Then it occurred to me that most of the Nesmyr and Lovac lived in places with a lot of forest or mountains.
"Do Zhulik usually stay in the same areas as Nesmyr or do they wander around everywhere?" I asked.
"They mostly stay in the same areas. We all prefer the more secluded places. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was just wondering how a woman got pregnant with a Lovac baby in a place like Wyoming."
"She probably went on vacation to one of the areas where Zhulik are. I've never seen a Zhulik travel that far away from the highly populated Nesmyr areas."
I thought about all the times I had a headache growing up and thought Lucas must be different from other Zhulik. Maybe that was the reason he’s been alive for so long. He doesn’t stay in the areas near Nesmyr all the time.
I sighed and Felix gave me a sad smile, rubbing his thumb along my wrist. I could see the worry in his eyes and I regretted wanting to take this job. I didn’t want him to suffer because of me.
We pulled into the driveway of a small little cabin a short time later. The Nesmyr parents were waiting at the front door, eager for us to get started and get their daughter back.
"Hello," the father said. His eyes were puffy but he had stopped crying. His wife, on the other hand, still had silent tears running down her face. "I'm Jeremy and this is my wife, Colette. Please come in."
"I'm Felix," Felix said as we entered their house. "And this is Avery. She's the one you talked to on the phone. I'm here to help her train. This is her first job."
Jeremy and Colette gave each other an unsure look. I knew they were worried that I wouldn't be able to help them because I was so inexperienced but I was all they had. They probably couldn't afford anyone else.
"Don't worry," Felix said. "She has some pretty amazing skills and I've been doing this for a few years. We'll do everything we can to find your daughter. Now, when did it happen?"
We had taken a seat in their living room and Jeremy put his arm around his wife to comfort her. I knew he was taking this just as hard as her but he was trying his best to be strong. There was a picture of their daughter on the table behind them and I tried to commit it to memory.
"Last night," he said. "The doorbell rang and Ellie, our daughter, ran to open it before we could stop her. We were both upstairs at the time and after she opened the door, we heard her scream. We rushed downstairs but it was already too late. The Zhulik already had her and we barel
y got a glimpse of his face before he ran off into the woods with her."
Poor Jeremy had started to sob while talking and he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. Colette had started to sob loudly and at one point it had become hard to hear Jeremy over her but I think we managed to understand everything.
"Do you know who the Zhulik was?" Felix asked.
Jeremy looked down at Colette sadly and she just buried her head in his chest even more.
"Yes," he said. "It was Colette's twin brother, Colin. We had just heard that he had turned a few days earlier. Colette was already devastated from that and then this happened. It's been a rough few days."
"Do you know where he lives? Have you heard of any sightings of him with other Zhulik in the area?" Felix asked, no sympathy in his voice at all. He was all business when it came to these jobs apparently. I made a note to ask him later if they were taught to be strictly business or if that was just him.
"I can give you the address to where he lives, though I'm not sure if he still lives there now that he's turned. I don't think he's been a Zhulik long enough to be sighted anywhere or with any other Zhulik yet."
Felix nodded and seemed to be taking mental notes of the conversation. I felt like we were detectives and wished I had a pen and paper to take my own notes. "New Zhulik tend to make their new homes close to their old ones. Do you know of any caves or places that would make good hideouts near his house?"
"Well," Jeremy considered. "I think there are some old caves a few miles from his house but that's all I remember."
"Is there any more information you can give us that you think might be useful?"
"He was always such a kind-hearted man. We were twins and I thought that meant I knew everything about him," Colette said, sobbing with every pause. "I just don't understand why he would choose to turn or why he would come after my baby. He was always so great to Ellie."
"I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you," I finally said. I couldn't stand Felix sounding uncaring to them anymore. "You both seem like such nice people and you don't deserve any of this. I promise we'll try our best to bring your daughter back to you safe and sound."
Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) Page 12
