The Executioners: Book 1

by Vanora Belmont

  Why? What was happening on Saturday night. Then it came to me. Please. No.

  ‘I’m throwing a party.’

  Great. A bunch of old human men talking politics and trying to put the world right whilst they looked down at the non-humans in the room. I had only been a young teen when she had last had one, so I spent the night in my bedroom. I doubted I would get away with it this time, though.

  ‘Okay. I want to invite my friends then,’ I said. ‘That way I’ll at least have someone I actually like talking to’

  ‘That’s fine, but I’ll need you to introduce yourself to everyone who attends. There’s quite a list. I believe there’s fifty-two coming, but you’ll need to confirm the numbers with Sorin.’ Gran stood up from the table and looked down at me. She added, ‘Oh, and will you be all right tonight on your own for a couple of hours? I have a meeting with someone, and I’ll be taking Sorin along.’

  ‘Yeah, I’ll be fine,’ I said. I wasn’t a kid anymore.

  Once my gran left with Sorin and the staff had gone home for the evening, I found myself lying in bed overwhelmed with boredom. The house was empty apart from Titan, who was snoozing at the bottom of the bed, and Ammon. But he was probably outside catching mice.

  I reached for my phone once again. It was nearly eleven and they still weren’t back. I hadn’t actually seen Gran much after lunch. Even when she was here it was like she wasn’t, always doing something for the good of the population. Boredom had originally driven me to be an Executioner. Now I was back where I started, but with no chance of being an Executioner again.

  Unless you step up. Then you can do what you want, a voice in the back of my head whispered. True, but that was a lot of responsibility unless I hired people to help me. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Was I really considering this?

  I knew what I would do. I would find the warlock responsible for mutating the humans. I could help find and destroy the black market and help both the humans and my people. Gran could do whatever she wanted to do and take some pressure off herself.

  Maybe I can just do it for a few months to see how I get on? I thought. No, I couldn’t do that. And if I did, I would need help. I slammed my fists down onto the bed and gave an exasperated groaned. Why couldn’t I make up my mind? I knew the answer, though. Deep down, I was worried that if I even tried to do my gran’s job for even a little while, I’d be sucked in and unable to get back out again. Becoming queen would be the hardest choice I would probably ever make.

  But I still wanted to be an Executioner. And it seemed that the only away that was happening was if I stepped up beside my grandmother. I closed my eyes and rolled onto my side so I could sleep.

  I sat up when I heard a noise coming from downstairs. Titan’s head had shot up and I watched him carefully. His hearing was better than mine. He pulled himself up onto his feet and emitted a low growl. I tossed the covers aside and got out the bed. Shushing Titan, I carefully opened my door. From my position in the hallway I could hear voices downstairs that I didn’t recognise. I crept towards the stairs, descending slowly and quietly. The voices became clearer.

  ‘Thought he said there was valuables here,’ one of the voices said.

  ‘Maybe upstairs in the bedrooms,’ the other suggested.

  ‘Isn’t the queen’s granddaughter upstairs?’ another voice hissed.

  ‘We don’t need to worry about her,’ the first voice said. ‘Apparently she isn’t very powerful. We can take her.’

  Anger rose through me. Not only were there men in my house with the intent to steal, but they were also insulting me. I could take down four humans. It couldn’t be that hard. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to fight. Kace had been teaching me the basics of hand-to-hand combat for two years now. My magic also had a way of helping me out when I really needed it to. I could take them, though I didn’t have much of a choice. I wasn’t about to turn back and hide. That wasn’t me.

  By the sound of it, the group was headed for the front door. I crept down the stairs and waited for them to appear. When the group met my angry glare, they froze. Without a word I pulled open the front door.

  ‘Leave now and walk away,’ I said. The guy in front just smirked and pulled out a gun, pointing it at me. Shit. I wasn’t strong enough to stop bullets.

  ‘No, I don’t think we will,’ he said. ‘We were told your grandmother had valuable jewellery here, mainly diamonds. We’re not leaving without them.’

  ‘How did you get in here?’ I asked.

  ‘We have a back-door key,’ one of the men said, pulling a silvery key from his jacket pocket and waving it to prove his point. How the hell? Who had given them a key? It wouldn’t be Mary or Sorin. That only left the cook or the butler. My gut wanted to blame the butler. I knew there was something off about him and I always trusted my gut. I took a closer look at the men. They appeared to be thugs, members of a gang, maybe? Not just common thieves.

  ‘Now, how about you show us where all the pretty stuff’s kept,’ the first man said as he smiled at me, his gun still pointed in my direction. Was he their leader? I quickly scanned the other three men. None of them seemed to be carrying a gun, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have one.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Don’t be a stupid little girl. I will shoot you,’ he snapped at me.

  ‘Shoot me, then,’ I challenged, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them. I didn’t regret it, though. I wasn’t scared of them and they needed to know that.

  ‘You think I won’t?’

  ‘I think you’re a wimp,’ I said. ‘There’re four of you and one of me, and you still needed to bring a gun. Makes me think you’re more worried about my abilities than you care to admit. If I’m not very powerful, then why do you need the gun?’

  The leader just glared at me.

  Then he pulled the trigger.

  The bullet hit the wall to my right as I ran out the door. He was either a terrible shot or wasn’t actually aiming for me.

  ‘Keep searching!’ he shouted at his men. ‘I’ll deal with her.’

  Okay, so maybe he does have bad aim, I thought as I ran towards the open field. I quickly jumped the fence, my feet almost slipping on the grass. I heard shots being fired but none hit me as I headed towards the trees. I could only just barely make them out in the dark.

  Eventually, the gunshots stopped. He’d probably run out of bullets. But when I glanced over my shoulder I could see he was still chasing me. I ran into the trees and hid behind one to take a few steady breaths. His heavy feet broke twigs on the forest floor. He wasn’t far behind me. I needed to know exactly where he was, so I knew where to bring the roots up. I peeked around the tree, but I couldn’t hear or see him anymore. I carefully stepped out from behind the tree and listened.

  Bang.

  I heard the shot before I felt the punch to my arm. I dropped to the ground, trying to avoid being shot again. I heard running footsteps behind me. I turned around and tried to get up off the floor, but I wasn’t fast enough. A fist flew out and hit me in the cheek. He loomed over me as he laughed softly.

  I swung my leg out. Not expecting it, the man dropped the gun and fell to the ground. I quickly scrambled on top of him and kicked the gun further out of his reach. Straddling him I punched him twice in the face. His hand shot up and grabbed my hair. He pulled hard and pushed me off before rolling on top of me. Using my hair, he slammed my head into the ground. I couldn’t help but scream as I saw stars.

  He slammed my head into the ground again. Now there were so many stars I couldn’t see him at all. I tried to concentrate on the trees around me. It was the reason I had led him in this direction. But with my hands around his arms to stop him from attacking me it was hard.

  I brought my knee up and hit him in the back. He stumbled enough that I managed to knock him off and attach myself to his back. I grabbed him around the neck and pulled him towards me. As my vision came back, I placed my other arm around his neck and tightened my gri
p. He scratched at my arms trying to make me release him. I cursed as his fingernails dug into my flesh. But I kept my arms tight around his neck and after a minute, his struggling died down. Another minute and he stopped all together.

  I let go, letting him fall face first to the ground. I fell back on my bum and took some well-needed deep breaths before crawling over to him and checking his pulse. I was worried that I had killed him instead of knocking him out. Thankfully, he was just unconscious. I could have easily killed him. I wanted to.

  My face stung, but my arm was on fire from where he’d shot me. A quick feel told me it was just a graze, thankfully, but it didn’t hurt any less. I could feel blood in my mouth from a burst lip, the back of my head was throbbing, and I could feel a bump forming. I couldn’t relax just yet, though. The man would wake up soon.

  Trying to ignore the pain in my arm, I placed my hands on the soil and manged to concentrate long enough for the tree roots to cover his body, keeping him pinned to the forest floor. I sat back against the nearest tree and closed my eyes. In the distance I was sure I could hear police sirens, but that was the last thing I heard as everything went black.

  Chapter Eight

  A voice shouting my name pulled me awake. I tried to focus on the voice. It sounded so familiar. I slowly opened my eyes and found that it was still dark. Was that Alex’s voice? I shivered, suddenly feeling the cold.

  It took me a few seconds to remember that I was sitting in the forest with only a silk nightdress on. It wasn’t clear how long I had been unconscious, but it couldn’t have been too long as the man that had attacked me was still out cold.

  God, my head hurt something awful. I reached up to feel the lump on the back of my head and hissed in pain as my fingers brushed over it. My hand dropped to my side. I heard footsteps somewhere to my left. Part of me wanted to shout out, but was it safe to do so? What if it was that guy’s men? I closed my eyes as the footsteps got closer. Tiredness was taking over, there was no fight left in me.

  ‘Over here! I’ve found her!’ the voice that sounded so much like Alex’s shouted out into the darkness. Warm hands touched my shoulders. ‘Anora, can you hear me?’

  I opened my eyes. It was Alex. But what was he doing here?

  ‘Alex? What…’

  ‘Shhh. You’re going to be okay,’ he said.

  ‘Why are you here?’ I asked.

  ‘We were patrolling the area when the police were called. Soon as we found out the gun shots had come from here we rushed straight over,’ he said. But who had called the police? Mary? I placed my hands to my head. It hurt to think. I looked up and smiled as Kace and Zane joined Alex.

  ‘Are you hurt?’ Kace asked quickly kneeling in front of me. His eyes scanned me before resting on the wound on my arm. ‘You’ve been shot.’ It wasn’t a question.

  ‘Grazed,’ I corrected. ‘It’s my head that hurts the most.’ I yelped as Kace’s hands found the lump on the back of my skull.

  ‘Kace, look at her face,’ Zane said, his voice sounding worried. I knew it was bad. It would likely be black and blue for a few days at the very least. Despite what had happened I smiled. It was good to see them again.

  ‘Come on up you get,’ Alex said as he helped me to my feet. A wave of dizziness washed over me, but it quickly left. I glanced up at the guys, who still looked worried.

  ‘I’m okay,’ I said. ‘What about the other men at the house?”

  ‘Police got them,’ Kace said. ‘We need to get you back and checked over.’

  I nodded as I let Alex lead me back out the trees. Zane pulled off his heavy jacket and placed it around my shoulders, I gripped the leather. It was warm and the smell of him was rather calming. The police were still at the house when we made it back and one of them approached me as soon as he saw me.

  ‘Miss, I’m going to need a statement,’ one of the officers asked me.

  ‘Can’t it wait?’ Kace asked.

  ‘It’s fine,’ I said. Giving a quick but brief description of what had happened.

  ‘And the man that attacked you?’ he asked me finally.

  ‘He’s in the forest,’ Alex said. ‘I’ll show you where.’ He led the police officer away from me and I watched them go.

  ‘Anora, where’s the queen? Where’s Sorin?’ Kace asked. I turned to look at him.

  ‘No idea. She had to go somewhere, and she took Sorin with her,’ I said.

  ‘We need to get you cleaned up before she gets back,’ he said as he led me towards the house. I needed a bath to wash the dirt off. I also had small cuts and bruises all over me. After I washed I pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved top to hide the horrible red scratch marks along my arms.

  I looked horrendous. It was my fault. If I knew how to use my magic none of this would have happened. I had to change. I wouldn’t be the victim again. Ever. My face must have given away my anger because when I went back downstairs to meet the guys they asked if I was all right.

  ‘Just pissed off,’ I said.

  ‘Uh…the queen’s cars just pulled up,’ Alex said from the front door. I walked over just in time to see her and Sorin step out. Gran immediately started talking to the police, obviously wanting to know what was going on. But Sorin’s eyes landed on me and he bounded toward me. He stopped in front of me and looked at my messed-up face but didn’t say a word. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth, but I held up my hand to silence him. I stepped around him and headed down the steps towards my grandmother, who gasped in shock when she saw me.

  ‘Oh, darling. Let me see you,’ she said reaching out for me. But I stepped out of her reach. I didn’t want her to touch me. I didn’t want anyone to touch me.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Those men were after your stuff. Those humans.’ I paused. ‘Something needs to be done. If I was breaking into humans’ houses there would be a riot. But because we’re witches, the humans will go easy on these low lives.’ I knew I was right and nothing she said was going to change that.

  ‘Anora, I’ll deal with it. I promise,’ she said. I wanted to believe her, but right now I couldn’t. I knew she worked with the humans, and as long as she worked with them they would continue to walk all over her. They didn’t see her as a threat anymore. She was just a witch that helped them control other supernaturals so their precious humans could live in peace.

  Without a word I headed back into the house. Sorin was standing with the guys now. They all looked to me as I walked towards them.

  ‘Thanks for your help,’ I said. ‘You guys better head back and do your real job, though, before the government thinks you’re slacking.’ I walked past them as I marched up the stairs. I headed for my room and let Titan out. He seemed happy to see I was okay and then left to go see what was happening downstairs.

  I slammed my door behind me. I felt bad for speaking to my friends that way, but it was true. They weren’t paid to help me. They were paid to protect humans from people like me.

  I took a deep breath and lay back on the bed. I knew something had to be done. Humans had been walking all over our kind for years. It hadn’t really changed. We’d just learned to live with it. My grandmother was a good queen, but she was soft. She cared about the humans just as much as her own people, unlike the human prime minister.

  Maybe she should change her tactics and stop helping the humans so much, I thought. Maybe I should become queen and change everything.

  No. I was angry. That was the only reason I was thinking that. I had to calm down and get some sleep. I’d feel better in the morning.

  As I lay there, though, all I could think about was what Sorin had told me back in the forest. If I wasn’t in charge I would have no say in what happened to our people. I could focus just on our people and the humans could focus on theirs. There would have to be an area in between, but they could be worked out. New laws and rules could be laid out, things could change. They needed to change.

  It was after one in the morning now. I pulled off my clothes
and slipped into a pair of cotton shorts and a vest. Someone knocked on the door. I wasn’t in the mood for company, but I walked over to the door and pulled it open anyway.

  Sorin stood there. He scanned my body, taking note of all the wounds he hadn’t seen earlier.

  ‘What?’ I asked after a minute of silence.

  ‘I wanted to make sure you were okay,’ he said. ‘I won’t leave you home alone again. Ever.’

  ‘That’s not really up to you, is it?’ I said. He worked for my grandmother. It was up to her. ‘Besides, I don’t need you babysitting me. I’m alive, aren’t I?’

  ‘Just’ he said.

  ‘This only happened because I can’t use magic properly,’ I said. ‘It’s not going to happen again. Next time I’ll be stronger, and people will realise that they shouldn’t mess with me.’

  ‘Anora, you’re angry—and you have every right to be angry—but this isn’t you. You’re not going to learn magic just so you can use it against humans.’

  ‘No, I’m going to learn it so that when I become queen. People will take me seriously then,’ I said. I managed to keep my voice calm even though my blood was still boiling.

  Sorin looked at me, shock in his expressions. I had shocked myself, but something had changed. I wanted to help my people and as queen I could. My grandmother wouldn’t be around forever. As much as it hurt to think it, she was getting old.

  ‘Where’s my grandmother?’ I asked.

  ‘She went to talk to the human prime minster about tonight. Says she’ll be back in the morning,’ Sorin said. I nodded and turned to rummage in my bedside cabinet for the painkillers I had left from Mary’s trip to the store. I swallowed two without water.

  ‘I’m going to try get a few hours of sleep,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’

  Sorin nodded and left the room.

  Chapter Nine

  Crash.

  My eyes snapped open as I shot up in bed. I reached out for my bedside lamp, but my hands only met air. Where was the lamp? I grabbed my phone from under my pillow and used the light on it to look around. The lamp was lying broken on the floor. That wasn’t all, though.