Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01)

by Jordan, Lanie

  I gulped in deep breaths, holding my hand over my heart. Almost a full minute passed before my breathing slowed and my heart rate returned to semi-normal. Just breathe, Jade.

  I moved back to the woman’s side and winced when I noticed a large gash on her shoulder and neck. Blood oozed out. “Can—can you tell me your name?”

  The woman blinked up at me in confusion. She swallowed once and her eyes started to water. “Celina,” she said, her tone so low that I had to lean forward to hear.

  “Celina? I’m going to get you some help.” But I need to stop the bleeding first. Isn’t that what doctory people did?

  I dug through the trash around us but couldn’t find anything to use as a bandage—or at least something I wasn’t afraid would cause more harm than good. Frustrated, I yanked off my over shirt, balled it into a big lump, and then pressed it over her wounds. It had to hurt a lot, but she barely moved or made a sound.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, pressing down a little harder. I twisted around to look for Peter and spotted him carrying the attacker to a van parked down the street. I hadn’t noticed it before. “Hey! I need some help over here!”

  Peter shot a look to me. He nodded, put the man in the back of the van, then ran over.

  “Her name’s Celina,” I said as he knelt down beside us. “You have to get her to a hospital. Her neck is…bad.”

  Wordlessly, he pulled a bandage from his bag and handed it to me. I started to pull the other one away but Peter shook his head. “Don’t pull it away. If it needs another bandage, just keep layering them on. Basic first-aid.”

  I did as he asked, placing the new bandage over the old.

  “Can you handle this for a minute while I call for help?”

  I gave a jerky nod. “Yeah.”

  He got to his feet. “Keep the pressure on, Jade.”

  “Okay.”

  As he jogged away, I glanced down at Celina. Her pale face and hair were covered in blood. I hadn’t seen so much since my mom and brother had died.

  I closed my eyes as they heated. My heart started to race and nausea crept its way to my stomach as visions of them flashed in mind. Pictures of their bodies lying on the carpet, surrounded by red—

  I shook my head and wiped my face with my free hand. Don’t look at the blood. Concentrate on something else.

  I forced my focus to Celina’s face and took slow, deep breaths.

  She wasn’t moving anymore and her eyes were closed. What was taking the ambulance so long? I couldn’t even hear sirens yet. The hospital wasn’t exactly around the corner, but I knew there was one within a few miles.

  Would they even show up?

  Even as I thought it, I heard an engine and looked up as another van pulled up beside us. The doors opened and two people in scrubs jumped out, then ran around to the back. A woman ran toward me a moment later with a bag in her hand. Her partner—a guy—pushed a gurney.

  They woman pulled on a pair of gloves and knelt down beside me. She offered me a small smile as she gently pushed my hand aside and took over holding the bandage. “We’ll take care of her,” she said.

  The guy joined her on the ground. They started talking quickly to each other, demanding this or that. I stood and edged away to give them room to work.

  I didn’t think they were paramedics, because they didn’t arrive in an ambulance or dress like any paramedics I’d seen, but they seemed to know what they were doing so I didn’t question their help.

  After working on Celina for a few minutes, they carefully rolled her to her side and slid a board beneath her. On the count of three, they lifted her onto the gurney, secured her in, and then rolled her to the van.

  My gaze dropped to the ground, to where Celina had just been. It was covered in blood and trash. The scent of it was strong and awful, mixed with other smells I couldn’t place and didn’t want to.

  The sight of blood and the scents weren’t new to me. They weren’t something I could’ve ever forgotten, but it hadn’t stopped me from hoping I’d never experience them again. I swallowed back a lump. I really wanted to close to my eyes and pretend I wasn’t here, that I hadn’t seen what I’d seen, or smelled what I’d smelled. But I didn’t. Couldn’t. My eyes wouldn’t close. They stayed locked on the ground, on the blood.

  As much as I really wanted to close them, I knew if did, that I’d see things I didn’t want to see. Worse things.

  Breathing through my mouth, I inhaled deep, held it for two seconds, and then released it slowly.

  Someone whistled and called my name. I looked and found Peter and David standing in front of the other van. Peter motioned for me. Casting one last glance at the ground, I turned and walked away.

  I made it five steps before one of the back windows of the van shattered, peppering David and Peter with glass. I froze to the spot and sucked in a painful breath. The man’s face was clearly visible now.

  Only the face wasn’t human.

  Stretched out skin hung down under the eyes, nose, and at the temples and sides of his mouth. Blood dripped down his lips and chin and coated his clothes in bright red. It was grotesque, more disgusting than anything I’d seen before, even in the movies.

  My eyes went wide. When I heard banging, I took an instinctive step back. Part of the door started to expand outward. It took a second before I realized the man—the demon—was doing it. I took another step back as the doors burst open. Before the demon could run, Peter shot two more tranqs into it. Five of the longest seconds passed when I was sure the demon would escape, but then finally, it slumped over. The upper half of his body fell out with his head hanging down by the bumper and his fingers brushing the ground.

  Peter moved forward, lifted the demon up and shoved it the rest of the way inside, then slammed the door shut. He beat one of his fists on it twice and the van took off.

  “Jade?”

  Something touched my arm and I pivoted around, my mouth opening to scream. It died out as I found Greene standing in front of me.

  Hundreds of questions ran through my mind. Hundreds of different things I wanted to demand answers to. Yet none of those came out. My mind whirled until I was dizzy, until the ground started to wobble beneath me. I blinked and focused my eyes on Greene. “They’re real,” I whispered, barely able to hear my own voice.

  “You knew they were.”

  “But I never found any or anything that even hinted at it being true.”

  “It didn’t stop you from researching them, did it? Or from sneaking out to find them.”

  Demons really killed my family. Believing and suspecting it to be true was different from knowing it, from seeing it—again—with my own eyes. I had researched them. I had looked for them. But I’d never come close to finding proof, at least none that couldn’t have been made up with makeup or some kind of computer manipulation.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “What?”

  “Are you hurt, Miss Hall?”

  I looked down, spotted the red on my shirt. I shook my head. “It’s not my blood. It’s—it’s not mine.”

  “Good.”

  “Do you know where they’ll take her?”

  “She’s being transferred to my facility—the CGE—for care. Our staff is more equipped to handle this than any hospital.”

  Shoving my hands in my pockets, I nodded. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

  “She has a chance, which is more than she would have had if it weren’t for you. Peter has a camera on him, so I saw what he saw.”

  “But I didn’t do anything.”

  “Miss Hall, you spotted her, you distracted the demon—”

  “By a fluke. I kicked a rock.”

  “And fluke or not, it distracted the demon. You kept her alive until help arrived.”

  A demon nearly killed her. A demon. I nodded and looked away.

  “Others aren’t as lucky.”

  Others. Like my family.

  I scrubbed my face. He’d proved demons were real. He’d proved
everything he’d said and held up his end of the bargain.

  Now it was my turn.

  Shaking my head, I clenched my jaw and turned back to face him. “What’s the offer?”

  Greene guided me back to the car. Once inside, he said, “Potentially, I want to offer you a job.”

  “What do you mean ‘potentially’?”

  “I mean, you may decide what we do isn’t to your liking. I think it is, but that doesn’t mean you’ll agree. I want you to come back to the CGE with me and take our Orientation.”

  “What’s it for? The Orientation?”

  “Demon hunting,” he answered simply. “I run an organization that specializes in recruiting and training demon hunters.”

  “Teenagers?”

  “Some are teenagers, yes. Some are adults. They all have special…skills.” He indicated the front seat. “Peter has been with the CGE since he was sixteen. He’s one of our best.”

  “Why?”

  Greene frowned. “Why what?”

  “Why teenagers?”

  “Teenagers are often more willing to accept the truth about the world around them—at least in regards to demons. They’re more willing to accept that. They have more to prove in some cases. Not to us, but to themselves, so they tend to train harder and faster. And in some scenarios, that adage about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks is true. Schools are beginning to teach their students foreign languages earlier and earlier. They learn quicker, faster. Easier.”

  I nodded. It made as much sense as anything could at the moment, especially when my head was still reeling from the truth, even if, deep down, I’d never really disbelieved it. “So you just go around looking for teens?”

  “Yes and no. We don’t just pick random teenagers off the street. We do our research, Miss Hall. We look for qualities that we can use.”

  “And me? What’s my quality?”

  He kept his gaze locked with mine. “You know about them.”

  Great quality, I thought with a frown.

  Something in my expression must’ve given me away, because he chuckled. “It’s not the only thing. As Peter said earlier, you’re not a bad fighter.”

  “I kicked him once. That doesn’t make me a good fighter.”

  “Not that fight alone, no, but the others.”

  I frowned. For someone I’d known maybe two hours, he knew way too much. What kind of research did one do to find out about someone’s dreams or fights? I didn’t know, but maybe I’d find out. “If I go with you, you said you can help me find the demon that killed my family?”

  “I can’t guarantee it, but it’s a strong possibility.”

  “But you’ll train me and teach me what I need to know to kill it?”

  “We won’t train you to hunt just that one demon, but we can train you to hunt it and others.”

  “Others?”

  “That demon Peter just captured wasn’t the demon that killed your family, was it?”

  I winced but shook my head. “No. It didn’t look anything like it.”

  “There are many different species.”

  “How many?”

  “We’re unsure of the exact number, but there are likely over fifty different species.”

  “Wow. Okay.” There were lots of demons. I never thought about there being more than one kind. Even when I’d seen Celina’s demon and it was different from the one I’d been looking for, it’d never crossed my mind.

  “Let me make myself clear here. I’m not offering to train you solely to find the demon you’re after. We train our agents to hunt every species of demon, and if you work for us, that is what you’ll be doing. This isn’t a revenge course, Miss Hall. It’s a potential job.” He sat quiet a moment, and then added, “The money is yours, whatever you decide.”

  In less than two hours, he’d verified my suspicions and proven that demons were real. He’d proven the last two years worth of nightmares true. I tapped my fingers on my thighs. Now that I had the truth about it, could I go back to The Pond? Or did I go with him, to this CGE place, and train to hunt demons? As much as I didn’t want another family torn apart by demons, I’d never once thought about taking them all on. I’d only wanted my demon.

  But to get to the one I really wanted, it sounded like I’d have to go through a lot more.

  I locked my gaze with his, held it. “Okay. I’m in. When do we leave?”

  CHAPTER 03

  Greene tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Take us back.”

  I frowned. “Back?” What the heck kind of game was he playing? He’d had men chase me down, then paid me to listen to his offer, and now he was changing his mind?

  “Well, I can’t very well just keep you without saying something to Mrs. Gill, can I?”

  “Oh. Right.” Internally, I sighed. This was just another case of something sounding too good to be true. This is what you get, you idiot. You know better than to get your hopes up.

  Mrs. Gill wasn’t going to just let me go. As much as the woman hated me and probably wanted me gone, she loved making my life miserable (and the check she got for ‘caring’ for me didn’t hurt, either). And if she suspected—for even a micro second—that this was something I actually wanted, she’d say no just to spite me.

  “Just tell me when we’re there,” I said, closing my eyes.

  I didn’t know how much time had passed because, despite not meaning to, I’d fallen asleep again. My eyes opened and I blinked as I watched trees race by. We were close to the Pond.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked through a yawn.

  Greene looked at me. “What do you mean?”

  “Mrs. Gill’s not going to just let me leave, not without…whatever people like her need. Paperwork or something.” Mrs. Gill would make it a long, drawn out process, and it’d probably be months before I’d see him again—assuming it was even possible in the first place. I had my doubts. “So, do you come back for me later or what?”

  His chuckle was soft and unexpected. “Miss Hall, you’ll be leaving with me today, within the hour.”

  The car pulled up in front of Mrs. Gill’s house and stopped. David turned off the engine. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw Fishface waiting outside the front door with her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl already in place. It’d probably been there since we left. “Look at her,” I said with another laugh, jabbing a finger in her direction. “She’s not going to just hand me over.”

  “Let me worry about Mrs. Gill. You worry about packing your belongings.”

  My things were pretty much already packed. Ninety percent of my dismal amount of belongings were stowed away in a duffel bag, locked up tight and shoved under my bed. From the minute I’d laid eyes on Mrs. Gill and the other girls, I’d known we weren’t going to get along so I never bothered to unpack. That first day, within five hours, I’d gotten in two fights with two different girls who were both trying to prove they ran the house. Mrs. Gill had seen it and, instead of stopping it or saying anything to the girls, acted like I’d been the one to start the fights.

  I got out of the car and jogged up the driveway to the house. Ignoring Mrs. Gill, I rushed past her, then the girls still in the living room, and went directly to my room. I dropped down on the floor and dug underneath the bed for my bag. I tossed it on the bed, rushed around the room to gather the rest of my stuff, and then shoved everything inside. Ten minutes later, I threw the bag over my shoulder and went back outside.

  I wouldn’t miss a thing about The Pond, not for a second. Not the house, the area, the girls. Especially not Fishface.

  Without a word or look to anyone, I went to the car and waited patiently for Greene. He was still talking to Mrs. Gill. His tone was soft, so I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Mrs. Gill’s face was bright red, so I didn’t think she liked whatever it was. Her mouth opened a few times, but from what I could tell, I still didn’t think she’d said anything. Maybe she couldn’t think of what to say, or maybe Greene didn’t want to hear it and
cut her off before she could voice her opinion. Either way, it was the first time I’d seen her quiet for more than two minutes.

  I watched her face get redder and her breaths quicken.

  A minute or two later, Director Greene turned his back to her and walked away. Mrs. Gill’s eyes flashed with anger, and then her gaze bore into mine. The contempt showed clearly.

  “Well?”

  Greene raised an eyebrow. “If you’re waiting for an invitation, I believe I already extended one.” He pulled the door open, held it.

  “I’m going?” The thought both scared and excited me.

  “Yes, Miss Hall.”

  “How? She just handed me over?”

  “Yes and no. One thing you should know about me, Miss Hall, is that I do my research and I’m always prepared.”

  “So you knew I’d come with you and you brought…paperwork or whatever?”

  “No, I didn’t know you’d join us. I had hoped, and I was relatively sure you would, but I didn’t know with any kind of certainty. However, as I said, I do my research and I believed the odds were in my favor.”

  “But how did you get her to let me go?” I scrunched my brows together, and in a lower tone, said, “Was it…legal?”

  He chuckled again. Him and the other two. “Of course it was legal. Now, is the how really that important to you? Do you honestly want me to discuss the legalities of this?”

  I frowned. I was really curious how he’d just gotten Mrs. Gill to give me up without much of a fight, but maybe the how wasn’t all that important, not if he kept his word. “I guess not.”

  “Then shall we go?”

  Nodding, I quickly jumped into the backseat and tossed my bag to the floor between my legs. My stomach was jittery and squirmy at the same time, like there were bunches of butterflies in a sea of nausea.

  He got in on the other side of the car and told the driver to go. “Are you ready?” he asked, glancing at me.

  Was I?

  Ready to leave Mrs. Gill’s care? Definitely, without a question or second thought. But ready to join the CGE…that I wasn’t so sure about. I didn’t really like change, and I couldn’t deny that a part of me wanted to run and hide from the truth about demons. Ignorance, I decided, could be bliss under certain circumstances.