by HK Khan
He looks away, fidgeting with the picture, as if suddenly embarrassed by the heartfelt outpouring.
I stand, and clap my hands together to break the mood. “As much as I’d love to stay and just talk, we need to come up with a plan to find my old Master. Your history hammers it home. He needs to be stopped, and those girls need to be taken somewhere safe like your mother was.”
“You’re right.” Genji stands and places his hand on another one of those hidden rectangles in the wall. A small portion, no more than two feet square, slides away to reveal a keypad. He laughs at my gobsmacked expression and pushes one of the buttons. “Please meet me in the BRAIN, everyone. I have Guine.”
I whirl around as his voice echoes from every corner of the building. As he leads me from his room, doors open, and Ash and Declan join us on our way to the stairwell.
“What’s up, Doc?” Ashton smirks.
Declan snorts, and Genji rolls his eyes. “Will you ever let that one go?”
Ash shakes his head with glee. “But seriously, what’s up? I can’t remember the last time you used the intercom.” Ashton surveys me with a pinched brow before doing the same to Genji. “Everything alright?”
“We’re fine, thank you for asking.” Genji heads down the stairs first. “Guine suggested, and I agree, that we gather to draw up plans and discuss strategy.”
“Good idea, Mo Chroí.” Declan takes my hand in his larger one.
Ash stares at our intertwined fingers, and his eyes flash with intensity. He clears his throat and stares straight ahead. “Guine, have you toured the BRAIN yet?”
His formal tone takes me by surprise, but I shake it off and answer before my pause adds to the weirdness. “No. It’s not a secret lab filled with the brains of your enemies, is it?” I mostly joke to lighten his mood, but a small voice in the back of my mind fears that’s exactly what it is.
Ash pulls up short, and I run into his back.
“What?” he chokes out. He spins around to face me, and barely restrained laughter simmers under the thinnest veil of control. “No! Why would you think that? Do we seem like organ-collecting psychopaths?”
I bite my lip and peek warily up at each of them. “Well, honestly, I don’t know. If you asked me at breakfast, I’d have said no, but now that I’ve seen your wall of torture devices, I’m not really sure what to think. I didn’t peg you all as the type, but Ash and Kent”—I glance over at the healer—“even Genji… None of you even blinked.”
I was prepared for several reactions to my statement, but none of them were the roaring laughter suddenly thundering around me.
Genji slides down the wall to sit on the floor while clutching his stomach, and Declan braces himself on the bannister to keep from falling forward. Tears literally stream from Ashton’s eyes, and he grabs me into a fierce hug, jarring me with his laughter.
“No,” he gasps between breaths, “I swear—” He loses it again and takes a minute to regain enough composure to speak. “Oh, God! We have to tell Hawk!”
“Tell me what?” booms a deep voice from farther down the stairs. A few seconds later, Hawk bounds up the last steps to our landing and studies his twin. “Tell me what, asshole?”
Apparently, his mood from earlier hasn’t changed. My stomach threatens upheaval, and I can’t manage to lift my gaze fully to him. I’m afraid of what I’ll see after my revelations.
“Oh, man, bro.” Ashton laughs again. “She saw your torture devices and thought they were real!”
My head snaps up at his comment, and I regard the brothers. I step back from them and cross my arms over my chest. “Explain.”
Genji wipes at his eyes and smiles up at me from the floor. “I’m so sorry, Kitten, that we didn’t tell you earlier. It was purely an oversight, I swear.”
I nod and unclench my fists at the sincerity of his apology.
“Hawk’s a lot more creative than he’s given credit for,” Genji continues. “None of the things in the cabinet were real.” His eyes sparkle. “Usually, the mere threat of torture loosens tongues, as you saw earlier, and Hawk’s quite…inventive. We rarely even have to remove them from their brackets.” He stands and steps closer to me. “On the rare occasions when the threat doesn’t work, Phoenix has created an amazing program that hypnotizes our captives into answering our questions. We would use it more often if it didn’t take so long to implement. He’s still fine tuning it, but as it stands, it takes three days to be effective.”
I unfold my arms and gape in awe at each of the four guys standing around me. “You’re not normal Hunters, are you?”
Declan laughs again and slings an arm around my shoulders. “There’s nothing normal about us, Guine.” He winks and steers me down the staircase. “We’re all a bit more. Auntie May made sure of it. She raised us to be more than mindless brutes who hunt rogues. She encouraged us to follow our passions and educate ourselves as fully as possible. When we surpassed our tutors, she pushed us to be pioneers. We create, develop, and hone much of the equipment and medicines used by the Hunters.”
The others follow us, and Declan navigates me through the twists and turns of the labyrinth while explaining some of the things he and his team helped create. “Genji came up with the idea for all Hunters to carry a vial of venom, and Hawk creates a variety of easily concealable weaponry. Kent is more than just a good friend. He’s a leader in the field of vampire physiology. With your help, he’s sure to make leaps with his work.”
We come to a dead end, and Declan stops talking. All four of the guys place their hands against the wall and turn their heads to me.
“You too, love,” Hawk mutters, and I mimic their poses.
The entire wall glows, faintly at first, then more vibrant, as it shifts through a rainbow of colors. It warms under my hands, and I move to pull away, but stop at Hawk’s firm, “Don’t.”
The light intensifies, but before it causes pain, everything goes dark and the hum of something electronic sounds. I blink away the afterimage of the light, and slowly, my eyes focus on the soft-blue glow emanating from an open doorway.
That wasn’t there a minute ago.
“Took you long enough,” Phoenix complains from the room beyond. “Get your pretty ass in here, Sunshine. We’ve got work to do.”
I shake my head and step into a room that, before now, I would’ve sworn only existed in the realm of science fiction.
Chapter Sixteen
The entire wall to my left glows, the only source of illumination at the moment. The silvery floor and furnishings appear to grow straight out of the metal flooring.
Kent glances up from his tablet and motions to the conference table and chairs. “Take a seat.”
I grunt when I try to pull out my chair, and realize it’s attached to the floor.
Phoenix rushes to take my hand. “You need to hold it here, Sunshine.” He places my fingers around the top of the seat back. “Now pull.” He demonstrates using my hand, and the chair slides effortlessly. “When you sit, lean forward and place your forearms on the table, and the chair will shift to the most logical position. I programmed the materials of the room to be intuitive, so once you show it how you want it, it’ll respond accordingly.”
I follow his instructions, amazed with his technology. “Wow,” I whisper as the chair molds to my backside. “It’s comfortable!”
Phoenix grins, and Ashton slaps him on the back without him flinching away. “I’m still improving the code, but it works better than I ever dreamed.”
The fact that he created all of this stuns me; I have to check to make sure my mouth isn’t hanging open.
A throat clears, zapping me back to the here and now. Hawk tries to catch my eye, but I lean forward and pretend I don’t see him.
Kent raises an inquisitive eyebrow, but nods when I shake my head and mouth the word, Later.
“Ji.” Kent places his palms flat on the table and rises. “Can we assume you called us here for a reason?”
Genji locks gazes wi
th me, and I understand he wants me to take the floor. I breathe deeply and straighten my spine.
“We should brainstorm.” My voice squeaks, and I mentally berate myself. “We need to figure out how to rescue the missing girls.”
Declan steeples his fingers, and Hawk nods in agreement.
Swallowing, I continue, “I don’t know how you go about planning missions, but I think we need to hurry.” My inner Huntress stirs, nudging me onward. “My gut tells me we’re running out of time, and I guarantee Eric and Zane’s disappearance won’t go unnoticed.”
I exhale when Kent inclines his head in a silent well done. He stands and waves his hands above the tabletop. A mass of swirling blue and green lines pop up from the surface of the table, and I yelp, jumping backward in my seat.
Kent smiles. “This is a three dimensional topographical map of the area where you were found.” He reaches inside of what I now understand is a hologram and pinches his fingers together while twisting his wrist. The map enlarges and turns, following the rotation of his hand, and a series of red dots appear throughout the area. “Ashton sent out several of our drones to map the place where you found our prisoners, and when we piece that together with the information they gave us, we can narrow it down to this twenty square miles.”
The entire time Kent talks, he points to spots on the map, and soon has the highlighted area enlarged and spread out before us. “We’re going to have to go in and do physical recon. I don’t want the drones spotted, or we might lose them before we ever find the girls.”
I interrupt him. “How high did the drones fly to gather this data? I realize they couldn’t have been too close, or we’d already have the location of the missing women, but I was wondering…” My voice trails off as thoughts coalesce in my mind. I glance at Phoenix with excitement. “Can you rig them to fly with some kind of thermal imaging camera? Maybe we can pinpoint hotspots with warm bodies? I don’t know about the technical aspects, but would it be possible for the cameras to differentiate between heat signatures? That way we could know exactly what we’re walking into without risking detection.”
Phoenix gapes at me, his jaw hanging slack, and his ocher eyes open wide. “Will you marry me?”
I blink in astonishment, not expecting his response, and he shakes his head vigorously.
“I-um, yeah,” Phoenix stutters. “Why the hell didn’t I think of that? Yeah, Sunshine. I can do that. I can so do that.” He leans over and kisses me on the cheek before running to the glowing wall. He starts drawing blueprints for a machine.
From the other side of the table, Ashton gives an impressed whistle while my fingers ghost over the tingle left in the wake of Phoenix’s lips. “That was something,” Ash remarks, pulling me back into the here and now. “Guine, speak up whenever you feel the need.”
I reluctantly pull my eyes away from the genius happening on the wall and turn back to everyone still seated at the table. “Huh?”
Ashton winks at me with a sparkle of humor in his eyes. “I was saying you need to speak up more often, Sugar Plum. I know you’ve only been here a couple days, but this is your home, too, and we’ll eventually get around to showing you everything. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to ask one of us if you need something. You’re more than just a pretty face.” His neck flushes. “And your input is spot on.”
I beam at the compliment, and Declan chuckles.
Kent steps away, examines Phoenix’s plans, and addresses the room. “Does anyone have something to add?” We shake our heads. “Then let’s leave Nix to his work and see about preparations for the upcoming mission. Dec, could you take care of dinner tonight? If I get a moment, I’ll join you to help. Hawk, I want you at your forge, finishing whatever weapons you can. Ash, assist him.” He fiddles with his ponytail and turns to me. “I have the feeling Guine’s right. When we find the location, we need to be ready to move.” I lift my gaze as he steps closer, taking my hand. “You should come with me and Ji to the lab. We’ll use this time to experiment with your blood.”
As he finishes his orders, everyone scurries off to their tasks. I follow him and Genji through the labyrinth to the lab, where we immediately get to work.
~
We spend almost four hours running tests, and I stare up at Kent in shock as he waves the results in the air.
“Come again?” From my seat on the lab table, I reach for the tablet in alarm. Absent-mindedly, I finger a glass bottle in my pocket while contemplating the ramifications.
While we waited for the computer to do its analysis, I showed them how to extract the explosive from Genji’s venom. The weight of the glass vial presses against my thigh and find it strangely comforting.
“I’m having a hard time believing this, too, Guine, but the data shows you’re not one hundred percent human.” Kent’s tone rises with surprise, and I hold my breath as he rereads the results. “This is amazing! You don’t test as vamp either. Your blood contains both human and vampire DNA, but not in the ratios we’ve come to associate with hybrids.” He sits beside me and hands me the tablet. “Doc, for example, has about seventy-five percent vamp DNA, with the other twenty-five percent being human. A fully-fledged Hunter has a point-one percent occurrence of vamp DNA showing up in our bloodstream. But you, Violet, are coming out with a seventy-five percent human DNA occurrence with twenty-five percent vampire DNA!”
I close my eyes to better process his words. Genji sits silent in the corner, and I fear this last piece of weird is the piece that will finally drive him away.
“So you’re saying that if Genji’s a hybrid-vampire, then I’m… What? A hybrid-human?” I rub my temples as my pulse throbs inside my skull.
“Actually, that’s a great way to classify this!” Kent’s excited pacing brings my narrow eyed attention to him. “You’re obviously more human than not, as you’ve never consumed blood—” He stops mid-stride and spins to face me. “You haven’t had blood before, have you?”
I shake my head numbly, and he scribbles something down. “Right, so you haven’t had blood, and no fangs, so you’re mostly human, but with…perks.” He smiles and continues at an even more rapid pace. “This is fantastic! You heal faster, have better reflexes, and I’m beginning to think your heightened hearing is just the tip of this particular iceberg. We’ll need to run tests, of course, but you could be the beginning of the balance nature always provides. We’ll check your fertility and—”
“That’s quite enough, Kent,” Genji cuts in.
Fingers tightening on the tablet, I hunch my shoulders to make myself smaller. The longer Kent rambled, the stronger my anxiety grew, and the Huntress stirs with my agitation. He doesn’t really mean anything by the talk about the testing, but it sounds threatening, and I don’t want to lose control again.
“This is a lot of new, important information, but now’s not the time to work through the details.” Genji stands, concern clear on his face. “Guine’s about two seconds from either bolting or bursting into tears. As fascinating as this all is, it’s her life you’re pulling apart. Remember, brother, you are more than just a scientist. You’re her friend.”
Genji remains on the far side of the lab, but he nods to me, and a tiny part of my discomfort fades. Kent’s tan skin goes ashen, and he kneels beside me with remorse written across his features.
“I’m sorry, Guine. Please forgive me for running away with that. Ji’s right. We need to let this information sink in for a while.” He takes the tablet from me and sets it aside before grabbing my hand, kissing the back of my knuckles. “Besides, we’ll need more time to devote to this, and right now the clock’s ticking on other, more pressing, matters.”
I couldn’t agree more.
A buzzer sounds before we can discuss it any further, and Phoenix’s voice calls out from hidden speakers. “I’ve got it rigged. We’ll have our data within the hour. Gear up.”
Genji finally approaches me, offering his hand, and I take it, letting him help me to my feet, however unnecessary it
is.
“You ready for this, Kitten?” He intertwines our fingers.
I swallow my self-doubt and take Kent’s hand in my other. “We’re about to find out.”
We re-enter the BRAIN hand-in-hand and watch silently as Phoenix manipulates the holographic maps on the table. “This worked better than I expected, Sunshine.”
I gape at what he shows us. Not only did he plan out the additions to the machines, but he built them and sent them out already! He separates the map into two sections with a flick of the wrist. “There are two clusters of individuals inside this building.” He highlights the groupings in red as he speaks. “We can assume this larger group is the girls, because there are thirty-seven warm bodies there. This other part”—he zooms the map in on the smaller cluster—“is probably where the assholes who took them are staying. There are nine thermal signatures, so it should be quick work for us to take them out.”
Kent stands, shifting our attention to him. “We’ve been given the go ahead from the Council as soon as we’re prepared. Between the missing girls and the new information about the Plague, everyone’s on edge. Auntie May should be here soon, and she’ll stand in as Operational Control. The next available team is at least four hours away, and I’m not sure we can wait for them. They’ll meet us onsite to help with cleanup and transportation for the girls, but I hope we’ll be wrapping up by the time they arrive.”
My gut twists as he speaks, and I sense we’re almost out of time.
Kent’s focus shifts to me. “Guine, you’re going to hang back with Auntie May while the rest of us go in.”
I open my mouth to argue, and he silences me with a raised hand before I can utter a word.
“We know you’re more than capable in a fight, but you haven’t had the training yet, and we haven’t had time to begin working as a team. The six of us have been together a long time, and right now, we need this to go smoothly. We can’t risk you losing control in the field, and we can’t risk anyone being distracted, worrying about you. I promise by the next mission, you’ll have had ample time to train with the team.”
