Poison in the Well

by Jessica Gunn

  Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “But I’m sure she still wants you and Rachel to come home and fight alongside her.”

  Ben nodded.

  “Naturally.” Krystin sighed into her hands again. “Fuck.”

  Basically. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  Chapter 24

  Two Weeks Later

  “Are you really sure you want to do this?” I asked Will as we made our way down into the training rooms in the basement of Fire Circle Headquarters. Each step sent pain radiating out from my shoulder, but I ignored it as best I could. I’d be feeling pain for months from this last batch of twisted platypus venom.

  Will nodded, a hard expression on his face. “I’m done running or being a victim. As long as it means I can see my family again, I’ll do anything to fight for the Fire Circle. Despite it kind of fucking up our lives, it sounds like they’ll be needing all the help they can get.”

  I smiled warmly at him as he fixed the polo he was wearing. “You don’t have to finish your training just because the Fire Circle will be ramping up recruitment. I think the Command would understand.”

  Will stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back to me. “I’m not leaving you in this war alone, Ava. Even if you’ve got Kian. I’ve seen what my powers can do now and what we’re going to be up against. I’m in.”

  I climbed down the rest of the stairs and pulled Will in for a hug. “I love you, you know that? You’ll always be my best friend.”

  He squeezed me tighter for a moment and then pulled away. “Right back atcha. But right now, I need you to be my sparring partner.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “If you insist.”

  “No magik,” he said as he stepped away from the stairs and towards the first empty mat. Most of them were empty, though, given the announcement last night. Many of the Hunters had taken to going on a quick vacation or retreating to their houses and apartments to be with their teams.

  War was coming. Real war. It had felt like war had been on its way for a while now, sure. But after attacking and angering the Neuians after Lady Azar had tried leveling Alzan, after everything with Talon and Hydron and everything in between… The war between Darkness and the Hunter Circles, between good and evil, had never felt more real. And the realization that this second Great War could very well happen not only within my lifetime, but within the next year if we weren’t careful, was terrifying.

  To say the least.

  My hands shook as I joined Will on the mat. We sparred, somewhat painfully for me, for a long time, joking and chatting in between to pass the time. Will had gotten damn good in just a few weeks of training. He even caught me a few times and laid me out on the mat. But more often than not, I’d serve it right back at him and gave him pointers to be better in the future.

  In a lot of ways, this was the same normal we’d always had in our friendship. Years ago, when we’d been kids, Will and I used to spend hours hiking trails and getting into trouble. Now we’d be satisfying our need for adventure by fighting demons alongside each other as freelancers.

  “Hey,” Kian said as he came down the stairs hours after Will and I had started sparring.

  We stopped. Will waved and I met Kian at the edge of the mat, hugging him. Kian kissed me, then nodded to Will.

  “You’re getting good,” he said.

  Will nodded, grinning. “That’s what Ava said right before she kicked my ass.”

  Kian laughed. “What can I say? She’s not a woman you want to get into a fight with.”

  Will waved a hand. “Please. I could have told you that years ago without breaking a sweat.” As if to emphasize the point, Will ran his arm against his head to wipe away perspiration.

  I laughed and shook my head. Whatever might be coming next for us, one thing was certain: I wouldn’t be able to live without either of these men in my life. My best friend and my love.

  “How’s your day going?” I asked Kian, smiling up at him.

  He nodded to the stairs. “They’re calling another meeting for anyone around. I suppose they’re having Hunters come in, too. Lissandra said it was pretty important.”

  I sighed and tried to fight the feeling of dread that washed over me. The Command and their meetings. Nothing good ever came out of them. “All right. Let’s go, Will.” I dropped my gloves to the ground.

  Will did the same and grabbed a towel to properly clean up. The three of us then joined the rest of the Hunters in attendance in the great hall.

  Like normal these days, Johanna took up residence behind the podium, waiting for everyone to arrive. I saw Ben and Krystin, along with the rest of their team, in the front row again with Areus. At the other end of the row sat the rest of the Fire Circle Command.

  Johanna cleared her throat loudly, and gradually, the room fell silent. I held on to the edges of the bench to steady myself, and when that failed, I grabbed Kian’s hand. He squeezed mine once.

  “I have both good news and bad for you all today,” Johanna started. “The good news is that our esteemed Leader Dacher has woken up and is doing well upstairs in the Infirmary.”

  Sighs of relief and some cheers spread around the room.

  “Thank god,” I whispered.

  Kian smiled and squeezed my hand again. “This is the best news we could have heard.”

  Johanna nodded, acknowledging the shared relief. “I know he wants to address all of this with everyone once he’s feeling up to it; however, given the past two weeks, we felt it was imperative to inform you all as soon as possible. The next best news is that it appears our efforts have, in fact, both crippled Talon’s ventures as well as put a big dent in Landshaft’s capabilities. Our sources say that their Autumn Fire harvest and transformations are about thirty percent of what they were last year.”

  That deserved a round of cheers all on its own. And it got one as the room erupted in applause. Yet it still felt like a huge but hung somewhere at the end of all of this.

  Johanna confirmed that when she lifted a hand. “The problem is that, in doing so, we’ve facilitated the widening of the power vacuum created by Lady Azar’s passing. With Talon temporarily incapacitated and Jerrick dead, Cinaed has lost his main ally in a bid for the throne we already know he was struggling to keep. And while that may suggest that Darkness will topple, that will probably not be the case. There’s always someone else waiting to take their throne.”

  Johanna was right there. I just hoped whoever was next after Cinaed wasn’t as insane as Jerrick. Even Aloysius seemed like a saint next to him.

  “Additionally,” Johanna continued, “there is some concern given the attack on Headquarters weeks ago that demon attacks will get bolder, more public. And so in response to this, there are many talks occurring between Hydron and the Hunter Circles in case the worst should happen and this war is revealed to those around the world who currently live a better life not knowing what dangers await them.

  “But make no mistake: the final war is coming. The second Great War. The one we’ve all been told stories about. And it started on the Neuian plane two weeks ago. It’s time to prepare. To recruit more Hunters. And to graduate the current class early. Those of you in attendance, please rise.”

  I glanced to Will with a curious look. His face was full of as much shock as I felt. Still, he climbed out of our row and up to the dais stage with the other seven people in his training group. As they arrived, another one of the Command members rose to the stage as well with a small tray of Fire Circle Hunter knives.

  Johanna turned to the potential Hunters and said, “Take the oath and receive your knife.”

  One by one, each of the new Hunters was called forward by name and recited the Hunter vow. Then it was Will’s turn.

  He knelt before Johanna and said, “I pledge to fight the Darkness, keeping true the tenets of the Hunter Circles: protect the innocent, fight with bravery, and never leave a Hunter or innocent to the clutches of Darkness. I pledge my life before my fear and my blood before ret
reat. My body and my life belong to the Fire Circle.”

  I grinned as Will recited the words I’d vowed to the Fire Circle myself not that many years ago. Will’s eyes were full of happiness and reverence… and seriousness, too. He hadn’t known the oath-taking would happen today, but even so, even after what Johanna had said about the war and the power vacuum, Will still could have declined and no one, including me, would have thought any less of him for it.

  But some people were born to be Hunters. It was in our blood. To fight the necessary fight. To protect those we loved and to see things through to a better world.

  And Will was the embodiment of that.

  Kian and I walked out of the great hall ahead of Will and the others. Some had stayed to talk to their friends or to strategize for the worst. Will and the other new Hunters had been asked to remain for assignment to a team. But Kian and I had no interest in waiting in there.

  Instead, we climbed the stairs up and into the lobby, then went to sit on the front stoop of Fire Circle Headquarters. I looked up at it from the outside, along the outer skyscraper appearance. The buildings on the Neuian plane really hadn’t looked so different. It could have been Cianza Boston that had exploded instead. One simple insurgency like Jerrick had carried out, and this entire city could be gone.

  “It’s crazy,” I said after a number of minutes had passed in silence between us. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  Kian gently wrapped an arm around my side. “Yeah. That’s one word for it. I wonder how things will be now.”

  “Guess we’ll find out,” I said.

  The turnstile doors behind us shifted and Will appeared. “You’ll never guess what just happened.”

  I looked back at him and grinned. “You finally learned how to cook?”

  “Ha ha,” Will said as he sat down next to Kian and me with a sheet of paper in his hands. He showed it to me. “You’re looking at the newest member of the newest Fire Circle team.”

  My brow furrowed and I glanced at the paper. And was shocked. “Well, then. That’s a thing.”

  “It is a thing!” Will said, now grinning from ear to ear. “This guy’s gonna love me.”

  “Hmm,” Kian said as he snatched the paper from my hands and read it. He paused, looking at Will, then to me. “We’re a team now?”

  “Suppose so, buddy! Apparently the first three-man, er, person team,” he said with an amused expression at me.

  I rolled my eyes. “Sure, sure.”

  Kian shot me a knowing glance. “Like you said, crazy.”

  I smiled and wrapped my arms around both of them with me in the middle. “But there’s no one else I’d rather face crazy with. Not in the entire world. And no one else I’d rather call my team.”

  The End

  Thank you so much for reading and supporting this series! It has been a wild ride, and I wouldn’t be able to do this without you, readers. Thank you :)

  The story of the Hunter Circles isn’t finished yet. To be the first to hear about book news, cover reveals, or extra content, including books set in the Hunter Circles Series, join my newsletter.

  The Hunted

  Hunter Circles Series: Book One

  Bound by duty. Marked by fate.

  I’m Krystin Blackwood, and I’ve only ever been good at one thing: killing demons of Darkness.

  But at twenty-four, I’m about to face my toughest challenge yet: shifting from working alone to joining a team of three other Hunters. Newbie Hunters. They don’t know their magik, they barely know their place in the world, and when they find out the secrets I’ve been carrying, they’ll definitely decide it’s safer if they don’t know me.

  But unfortunately for them—and me—Darkness has other plans. Lady Azar, Darkness’s heir, stole my new team leader’s son two years ago. Now, she and her lackeys are rallying to exchange Ben’s son for me because of the power I wield. I’m one-half of a prophecy to save an ancient city the Powers of Good lost centuries ago. And if I fail or die before that happens, the destruction of that city will be felt across all planes of existence.

  If we can’t find Ben’s son before All Hallows’ Eve and somehow save him without putting my life at risk, that existential explosion will absolutely happen. But it’ll be nothing compared to the destruction wrought if Lady Azar changes Ben’s son into a demon… and her minion.

  Because the only thing more dangerous than me with a blade is a father’s wrath.

  Grab your copy of The Hunted today!

  Also by Jessica Gunn

  The Hunter Circles Series

  The Hunted

  The Traitor

  The Changed

  The Hero

  The Power

  Novellas in the Hunter Circles World

  The Hunter

  The Healer

  The Atlas Link Series

  Gyre

  Landlocked

  Driftwood

  Riptide

  Countercurrent

  About the Author

  Jessica Gunn is an avid science-fiction and fantasy fan. Her favorite stories are those that transport the reader to other, more exciting worlds. When not working or writing, she can be found binge-watching Firefly and Stargate, or feeding her fascination of the ancient world’s many mysteries. Jessica also holds a degree in Anthropology.

  Let’s Connect!

  www.jessicagunn.com