The Executioners: Book 1

by Vanora Belmont

  I felt bad for him. He was a handsome guy, but I could understand that his scars wouldn’t make him feel like that. Everyone could be self-conscious, even superhumans. I didn’t know how bad or how many others scars he had or where they were, but it didn’t matter. It was none of my business.

  ‘I must look like a weakling compared to other witches out there.’ Trying to lift the mood a little, I smiled.

  ‘No, you just haven’t reached your full potential yet,’ he said. ‘Working with the Executioners held you back, but you’re not staying with them now. I would practise if I were you. Never know when your magic might be needed.’

  He was right, but at the same time I had actually become pretty human over the last two years. Sharing a living space with non-magic team-mates had been great, but I had sort of forgotten about that side of me because I had been trying to fit in. Things were different now. I could use them again.

  ‘If I was to attack you right now, how would you stop me?’ Sorin asked suddenly. His question stumped me. My usual tree trick wouldn’t work here, I couldn’t put up a shield because I would be trapped in the room with him. I hadn’t mastered portals yet so I couldn’t even portal away from him. I knew hand-to-hand combat, but against a superhuman it would be like a lamb trying to take on a lion.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I admitted.

  ‘Then we need to work on that. I’ll always be here to protect you, but if I was to be killed doing so then you would need to be able to protect yourself. Like the queen,’ he said.

  He was right. My grandmother was powerful enough that she could handle herself if she had to. I didn’t like the idea of Sorin dying for me, though. I knew his job was to protect the queen at all costs. But at the moment it was me he had to protect. The thought of him dying was upsetting because I actually liked having him around. I’d miss him if he was gone.

  He was right about reaching my full potential. Out of all the species in our community, witches and warlocks were actually the most powerful. Some had almost unlimited power, the only limit being their imagination. I guess that was why the humans hated our kind the most. We were the biggest threat.

  That evening I had my dinner in the sitting area. There was a large dining room, but eating at the huge table by myself seemed silly. There was no TV—my grandmother never watched it—and I was actually rather bored without one. I liked watching nature documentaries. I was also missing the guys and I couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing. Were they trailing the forest and town, keeping an eye out or out hunting a rogue vampire?

  ‘Please stop sighing,’ Sorin said pulling me from my thoughts. I hadn’t even realised I had been. He hadn’t looked up from his phone.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said. I put my finished plate on the side table. ‘I’m bored.’ He smirked at this.

  ‘Really? I had no idea,’ he said sarcastically. I threw a cushion at him, but he just laughed. A warm laugh that was nice to hear. So, he wasn’t as uptight and professional as he looked.

  ‘Who do you prefer to be with? Me or my grandmother?’ I asked him.

  ‘Am I allowed to answer that?’ he asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

  ‘Yeah, I won’t say anything,’ I said.

  He seemed to be thinking about how to answer without saying something he might regret.

  ‘Working for the queen keeps me busy, but here it’s quieter. I’m not used to sitting around. But you’re easier to talk to because you don’t like me being formal,’ he said. I wasn’t used to formal. My grandmother was the queen, but I still called her “Gran” no matter where we were.

  ‘So, basically, you’re as bored as me,’ I said. ‘We should do something’

  His eyes darted to mine as his eyebrows rose. ‘Like?’

  ‘How about we spar, and I try to kick your ass. You said I needed practise,’ I reminded him with a smile. Oh, this was going to be fun. I had fought with Kace once before when I had first joined the team and I had been black and blue for days. But it had to be done; I needed to know hand-to-hand combat.

  ‘Is that really a good idea?’ he asked. ‘I don’t want to hurt you. Even if I go easy on you I could accidently hurt you.’

  ‘I’ll be fine. You’re not the first superhuman I’ve sparred with,’ I said, leaving out the fact that I had gotten hurt. ‘Come on, there should be room in the gym.’ I got up from the couch and led him out the room and down the corridor. The gym was cold and hadn’t been touched since I had last been home. It was clean, but the mats were still laying on the floor and the equipment was pushed up against the walls. I hadn’t expected my grandmother to use it. She was seventy. I turned to face Sorin, who looked apprehensive. I gave him a reassuring smile and stepped onto the mats. Turning to face him I gestured for him to do the same. He stepped on and then turned to face me.

  ‘This is going to go wrong,’ Sorin mumbled.

  ‘You wanted to attack me earlier.’ I smiled at him. ‘Now you can.’

  ‘Have you had any weapons training?’ he asked.

  ‘I know how to fire a handgun. You point and shoot. It’s hardly rocket science,” I said with a smile. Sorin rolled his eyes at me.

  ‘How good is your aim, though? Can you hit a moving target? Can you hit a target from over two hundred yards away?’ he asked.

  ‘Eh, my aim’s not so good. I don’t think I could hit a moving target. And besides, the gun I used to use didn’t shoot that far. It only shot about a hundred feet,’ I admitted. I knew my gran had a large assortment of weapons in the armoury downstairs, though.

  ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought,’ Sorin said ‘Okay, how about I teach you how to shoot instead?’ It was a good idea. I knew hand-to-hand combat well enough to get me through most of my fights. My aim, however, was terrible. I needed more weapons training. If Sorin was happy to teach me, then I would be an idiot to pass up the opportunity.

  ‘Yeah, that would be more helpful,’ I said. ‘Come on. I’ll show you where Gran keeps all her dangerous toys.’

  I led him down some stairs that were hidden behind a door in the kitchen. It was slightly dark down the stairs, so I lit up my hand to use as a torch as I reached for the door handle. I pushed the door open not quite sure what to expect. I had never been down here. Gran always kept it locked when I was a child for obvious reasons. I found the light switch near the door and the room flooded with light.

  It was bigger than I had expected. It was at least a hundred feet long. There were even some dummies on the far wall for shooting at. And there were already bullet holes in them. The wall behind us was covered in weapons, guns of all different shapes and sizes. I recognised a few Glock-19s, but the rest of the guns were a mystery to me. Sorin was looking at them with interest, his eyes scanning each one carefully. He reached up and pulled one from the wall. It was a rifle of some sort.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I asked. He turned to face me.

  ‘This is the gun I’m going to teach you to use,’ he told me ‘It’s an AK-47, the best rifle in my opinion. Sturdy as hell and it will still work if you drop it in mud or water. Pretty sure it’s been tested with a tank running over it,’ he said as he handed the gun over to me.

  It was definitely heavier than a pistol. ‘This can shoot over three hundred yards, so we’ll need to practise in the fields. There’s not enough room in here,” Sorin said rummaging through drawers until he found the rounds he was looking for. ‘Come on then.’ He smiled and led me back out the basement.

  A few minutes later I stood in the field with Sorin. He was about two hundred yards ahead of me sticking large juice bottles to the fence posts with tape. This was going to be fun. If Zane could see me now he would be sitting on a deck chair with a bucket of popcorn on his lap enjoying the show, waiting for something funny to happen. Luckily, behind the fence were trees and hopefully they would stop any stray bullets, because most likely they would all be stray bullets. I watched as Sorin walked back over to me.

  ‘So how long will you be teaching me for?’ I as
ked curiously as he took the gun from me and loaded the magazine. The sun would be going down in a couple of hours. Ready to fire, he handed me the gun back.

  ‘Probably just an hour a day, maybe two if you can stretch to it. But your arms and shoulders might get pretty sore,’ he said. ‘Okay, show me what you’ve got.’

  I aimed the gun, trying to get used to its weight, and fired a couple of shots. The gun jumped back slightly into my shoulder, so I missed the bottle I was aiming for. I stopped shooting. I turned to Sorin, who had a smirk on his face. I glared at him, which was enough to keep him quiet. For now.

  ******

  It took until the third day before I managed to hit what I was supposed to, but on the fourth and fifth days my aim wasn’t too bad. I actually hit the targets more than half the time. On the sixth day I couldn’t shoot. My arms and shoulders were too sore. Thankfully Sorin understood that I wasn’t built like him.

  The pain in my chest had come back as well. It wasn’t strong, but it was bad enough that Mary had nipped to the local shops to get me some pain killers.

  I sat in the lounge with my duvet over me just being rather lazy. Sorin was on his phone. If it wasn’t phone calls it was texting. He never seemed to be off it. What exactly was he doing all the time that required his phone?

  ‘If you don’t put that phone away for a few hours I’m going to hide it,’ I said as I turned my head to look at him.

  ‘I’m working.’

  ‘How can you be working? You’re sitting right here.’

  He just gave me a soft smile.

  ‘I like to keep in contact with the people protecting the queen whilst I’m here. I like hourly updates and any updates on the warlock that the government finds as well. I’m just used to being busy,’ he said.

  ‘You’re a workaholic,’ I concluded. ‘What if you were told to take the night off?”

  ‘I’d refuse unless I knew the person replacing me was as good as I am.’ That made me smile.

  ‘Someone’s confident. Do you boast often?’

  ‘It’s not boasting if it’s true,’ he said with a smirk and I burst out laughing. ‘Besides, one of the messages was from the queen,’ I perked up at this and stopped laughing.

  ‘What did it say?’

  ‘She’ll be arriving tomorrow for lunch,’ Sorin said. It would be good to see her again, but she wouldn’t let shit like this fly. Duvets on the sofa, me in jeans, a top with ripped sleeves, and my hair in a messy bun. Nope, I would have to start dressing proper again. I hated dresses and I hated wearing makeup more, but I knew that she had to keep up appearances and she liked me to as well. Cameras tended to follow her around and if photos of me got out dressed like I had just rolled out of bed it would be pretty embarrassing.

  ‘I’m going to have to look nice again. No more looking like a slob,’ I told Sorin.

  ‘You mean dress nice?’ Sorin said.

  ‘Yeah. Dresses and long pencil skirts and what not. I’m rubbish at that sort of thing, Mary will need to help dress me again, I’m twenty-five going on five.’ I smiled and he smiled back. Talking to Sorin like this would need to stop as well, and what about the gun training? Gran being here would complicate things, but I missed her, so I would just need to suck it up.

  Chapter Seven

  Despite going to bed early and feeling well-rested, I woke up the next morning in a panic. I charged down the stairs, not caring that I was in a short silk nightdress. I ran around the building looking for Mary. Just as I turned into the corridor leading to the kitchen I collided with someone. Judging by the size, it wasn’t Mary. Strong hands steadied me as I almost fell backwards. I looked up to see Sorin, who was raising an eyebrow at what I was wearing.

  ‘You shouldn’t let me see you dressed like that,’ he said. I didn’t really care. I was sure he had seen a half-dressed woman before.

  Ignoring him I asked, ‘Where’s Mary?’

  ‘I’ll go find her and send her up to your room,’ Sorin replied. I nodded before running back down the corridor and up the stairs again.

  My gran was arriving in less than three hours and I was nowhere near ready. I still needed to bathe, find a decent dress, and get my hair and makeup done. I quickly made my way into the bathroom and started running the bath, making sure it had nice smelling bubbles in it.

  It was so stressful living here. I didn’t have to worry about this back at the base. I pulled out my mobile as I waited for the bath to fill up. It had been almost a week and I hadn’t heard from any of the other guys. I wondered why they hadn’t been in contact and if they were waiting for me to make the first move. I scrolled through my contacts, stopping at Zane. I could call him, but he would probably be sleeping considering how early it was.

  I threw my phone back on the bed. I’d phone them tonight, even if it meant staying up late so I could catch them. Once the bath was filled I stripped down and climbed in. There was no time to relax as I scrubbed every inch of myself. I had just finished with my hair when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

  ‘Come in!’ I shouted, knowing it wouldn’t be Sorin. I looked up as Mary walked in. She’d seen me in the bath before, so this wasn’t unusual for her. ‘Thank God. Please find me a dress in my wardrobe that won’t make me look stupid,’ I begged.

  Mary smiled and left the bathroom. I could hear her rummaging in the wardrobe as I stepped out the bath and wrapped a towel around myself. I dried my hair as best I could with another towel, but I was going to need a hair dryer if I wanted to be ready in time. My hair liked to hold water. I sat down at my dressing table and spoke to Mary through the mirror.

  ‘Mary, I need your help. I suck at this stuff. You know I do,’ I said.

  Mary pulled out a baby blue corset dress and placed it on the bed before walking over to me. ‘You just need more practise,’ she said, pulling the hair dryer out. ‘But I’m always happy to help.’

  It took over an hour to style my hair and makeup. It was simple yet elegant. Mary left me to get dressed. I pulled the dress over my head and looked in the mirror. I had always preferred these types of dresses; they pulled you in around the middle and flared out, stopping just above the knee. I found a pair of white heels and a blazer to match.

  I couldn’t reach the zipper on my back no matter how I twisted my arms. Someone would have to do it for me. I headed downstairs slowly, trying to get used to walking in heels again. I had been great at it two years prior. Now? Not so much.

  ‘Sorin? Mary?’ I shouted as I got to the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t bother calling out for the butler. There was something about him I just didn’t like. Sorin was the first to appear. He froze when he saw me. ‘I need help with the dress.’

  ‘What?’ he said eyes jumping to mine.

  ‘I can’t get the zip at the back,’ I said. ‘Can you zip it up for me?’

  He nodded, walking over as I turned around. I felt light fingers pull the zipper up gently. I turned back around to face him.

  ‘Thanks,’ I said.

  ‘No problem,’ he replied ‘You…um…you look nice. Different. But nice,’ he mumbled. I smiled at him.

  ‘You saying I clean up well?”

  ‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘Sorry, that was out of order. I shouldn’t have spoken.’ I just laughed softly. I loved it when he wasn’t professional. It felt like I was back at base with the boys.

  ‘Relax, Sorin’ I said looking at the grandfather clock near the main doors. ‘She’ll be here in ten minutes.’ Lunchtime to gran was always half past twelve on the dot.

  ‘I think Mary and the cook have prepared a large lunch,’ Sorin said. That didn’t surprise me. Gran loved her food, but you wouldn’t think that looking at her. She was rail thin. I just stood at the bottom of the stairs, unsure if I should go somewhere else. At twenty-five past a portal opened close to the front doors. Half a minute later, my only remaining family member stepped through. I smiled as soon as I saw her. She smiled as she walked towards me with her arms out for a hug.

&nb
sp; ‘Anora, darling, I’ve missed you,’ she said hugging me softly. I hugged her back, which was rare for me as I wasn’t a hugger. ‘Come on. I’m starving. We have a lot to talk about.’ She started leading me towards the dining room.

  We didn’t speak at all during lunch. It wasn’t until we had finished our food that my gran’s eyes met mine. She waited until the staff had gone before speaking. Even Sorin was nowhere in sight.

  ‘I can see you have questions for me, Anora,’ she said taking a sip of water from an expensive-looking glass. She was right. I did have questions, but what I wanted to know more than anything was if I was allowed to join the Executioners again.

  ‘Two years ago, I talked you into letting me join the Executioners,’ I said. ‘When my team leader Kace found out who I was, he cut me from the team. He said he would only let me join back up with permission from you.’

  ‘Do you want to go back to them?’ she asked sitting back slightly in her chair. I nodded my head. ‘If I thought that was the right career path for you I’d give my permission in a heartbeat.’

  ‘Which is just a long way of you saying no,’ I said.

  ‘Anora, sweetheart, that isn’t the job for you.’

  ‘Then what is?’

  ‘Well I was hoping you would join me and eventually take over when I need to step down. I’m not as young as I used to be, you know,’ she said with a soft smile. That was true, but she also knew that I didn’t want to rule. The thought of ordering around the house staff and Sorin was bad enough, never mind everyone else.

  ‘If I don’t take over for you, who will?’ I asked.

  ‘His name’s Howard Clarence, a vampire from York. He looks to be the favourite, so far, anyway. He’s liking the idea that you’re not interested. He sees it as an easy win.’

  ‘There’ll be a vote, though.’

  ‘Yes, but he’s the favourite right now unless you step up, that way there’ll be no vote,’ Gran said. ‘You’ll be meeting him on Saturday night.’