The Executioners: Book 1

by Vanora Belmont

  ‘Of course it is,’ he said. He was looking rather flustered as he continued, ‘It all comes down to finance you see. I don’t…’

  ‘I’ll fund them myself,’ I said interrupting him. It wasn’t like I didn’t have money. My parents had left me quite a bit when they had died, and my grandmother was a millionaire. My grandmother funded her superhumans. I didn’t see how this would be any different.

  ‘Well…I…if you’re funding them yourself, then I see no reason why you can’t have your own team,’ he said to me. He didn’t look like he was happy about it. I just smiled and looked at Zane, who smirked back.

  ‘Well, in that case, Mr. Prime Minister,’ Zane said, ‘I quit.’

  With a smile I turned to speak to Zane.

  ‘Mr. Knight, how would you like to work for me?’ I asked letting the smile fall from my lips as I tried to appear serious.

  ‘It would be an honour,’ Zane replied.

  ‘Excellent.’ I smiled again, then turned to my grandmother and the Prime Minister. ‘It was a pleasure speaking to you,’ I lied sweetly before turning away and moving back through the crowd with Zane right behind me.

  I sat myself down at the table furthest from everyone else’s and motioned for Zane to sit across from me. He did and we both leaned on the table slightly, our heads close together so we could talk in private. Well, as private as we could be in a room full of people.

  ‘So, what’s the plan?’ Zane asked. Honestly, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t expected to get the permission to have my own team. But first things first.

  ‘We need more people. We can’t just do it on our own,’ I said. He nodded in agreement.

  ‘What about Kace and Alex?’

  ‘Kace is a leader. I don’t think I could lead a team of Executioners as well as he does,’ I admitted. ‘If I ask him I’m asking him to lead. Just like he does now’

  ‘Alex will join you. Kace will to. What about Sorin?’ he asked. I hadn’t even thought about Sorin. I hadn’t even seen him all night. He worked for my grandmother, though, and I wouldn’t feel right taking away her best superhuman.

  ‘I’ll think about him,’ I said. ‘Can you find Alex and Kace let them know what’s going on?’

  ‘Is that my first order?’ he asked playfully.

  ‘Yeah. Get to it or you’re fired,’ I joked back. He stood up and mock saluted before disappearing among the guests.

  Now, how did I tell my grandmother that I planned on joining this team of Executioners occasionally? I didn’t plan on going out every night, but maybe a couple of times a week. I hadn’t spent the better part of two years training for nothing. And thanks to Sorin, my shot was definitely improving.

  My thoughts were interrupted when a woman screamed. I snapped my head up to look in her direction. She was pointing at the glass ceiling. Everyone gasped as they caught sight of what the woman was pointing at. A large mass had moved onto the roof. I stood up from my seat just as the glass shattered. I instinctively covered my head with my arms to protect myself from the sharp clear daggers. The guests screamed as it rained glass and something heavy fell to the floor.

  I looked up as the screams got louder. Standing in the middle of the room was one of the mutated humans. How on earth had it gotten here? The guests started stampeding towards the main exit. My eyes shot to my grandmother, who had put up a shield to protect herself and the Prime Minister. I didn’t need to worry about her. She could look after herself.

  The only other face I could see in the sea of people was Kace’s. He looked like he was torn between helping me and getting the Queen out. I made it easy for him by pointing at my grandmother. He nodded and headed for her.

  ‘Hey, you!’ I shouted trying to make myself heard over all the noise. Surprisingly, the creature heard me and started to stomp towards me. I needed to get it out of the house. Would it fit though the gym’s back door? I doubted it. But it would fit through the large windows. How would I get it through the window?

  ‘Anora!’ I looked up to see Sorin pushing his way through everyone and Zane right behind him. Zane had his gun pulled and surprisingly, so did Sorin. Had he wanted to carry it for extra security tonight?

  ‘We need to get it out of here!’ I shouted back to them. ‘Through the window?’ I pointed at the window directly behind it. They looked at each other and nodded as if they’d had a silent conversation. They then both charged the monster. Shoulders out, they hit it with enough force to push through the window and into the yard outside, glass flying everywhere. It was amazing how many windows had broken since I moved in here. Grabbing the front of my dress, I quickly followed them though the broken glass and outside. Now knowing the only way to kill these things was a knife straight through the skull, I looked at my teammates neither of which carrying a knife.

  Damn it.

  I ran the best I could back into the house and headed straight for the armoury. I pushed the door open, switched on the light, and immediately grabbed three daggers that would be long enough to get through the monster’s head before heading back up the stairs and towards the gym hall. I badly wanted to kick off my heels, but with broken glass everywhere it wasn’t wise.

  Alex had joined the fight whilst I was gone. I stumbled out into the yard just as the monster’s large arm caught Sorin in the chest and threw him backwards a good hundred feet. He only stopped when he hit the house wall, dropping down to the ground unmoving. I started to panic. It had to have hit him hard to knock him out.

  ‘Anora, we sort of need those daggers!’ Zane shouted at me.

  I tore my eyes away from Sorin’s motionless body. I spun round and quickly threw a dagger to Zane and Alex, who caught them easily. Without hesitation, I ran for Sorin. I dropped down beside him and rolled him over so I could see his face. His eyes were still closed, but my fingers easily found a pulse on his neck.

  ‘Anora, move!’ Alex shouted. I looked up to see the monster heading straight towards me despite Zane and Alex’s attempt at distracting it. I couldn’t move, though. If I moved, Sorin would be an easy target. The monster could easily kill him when he was like this.

  The monster was on me before I had come up with a plan, though. It shrieked as it brought an arm down to hit me. I threw my hands up over my head to protect myself, but the blow never came. I looked up. A shield now protected me and Sorin from the creature’s fists. I had never produced a shield instinctively before, but this time I wasn’t complaining. It wasn’t going to be enough, though. I needed more magic. Stronger magic.

  I knew my magic was affected by my emotions, and that it got stronger when I was angry. Right now, I needed to be angry. I thought of the men who had broken into the house, the one I’d fought in the forest. How I had felt. How angry I had been. I stood up. Screaming angrily, I threw my arms out towards the monster. An invisible force hit it and threw it back away from us. Zane and Alex dived out of the way just in time. The monster flew right past them. Seems I could move heavy objects easily enough if I really needed to. I dropped back down to Sorin, ignoring the monster for the time being.

  ‘Sorin, you need to wake up now,’ I mumbled as I placed my hands on either side of his face. Maybe I should slap him, I thought. ‘Sorin, come on. We need you.’ I shook his head a little. His eye twitched slightly, I stopped moving his head, unsure if I had caused it. ‘Sorin?’

  He groaned in response. I watched as he opened his eyes. It took him a few seconds to focus on me, but I smiled when he did. ‘Welcome back,’ I said.

  ‘Anora,’ he said before slowly pushing himself to his feet. He looked out across the yard to Zane and Alex, who were doing their best to keep the monster distracted. I bent down and picked up the dagger I had dropped. I handed it to Sorin.

  ‘If we get it to the trees do you think you can bring it down to the ground again?’ he asked.

  ‘I think I can do better than that,’ I said. I had already moved the monster once. There was no reason I couldn’t do it again. I turned around and held my hand out, po
inting it towards the monster.

  This is no different than lifting the weight in the gym, I told myself, just heavier.

  I focused on the monster, letting myself grow angry again. But this time I was angry because this thing had hurt Sorin. As I put my hand out, the creature stopped moving. It tried to move its feet, but it couldn’t, and it shrieked in anger. Now all I had to do was hold it there.

  I brought my other hand up to try and control its arms and soon they stopped moving as well. Now it looked like a loud, ugly statute. Zane, seeing that the monster could no longer move, took his chance. He ran up behind the creature and jumped, throwing his hands down around the creature’s neck and embedding his dagger into the back of its head. It didn’t fall as Zane dropped back down to the ground. At least not until I dropped my hands down by my side. I clenched my fists as my fingers tingled painfully.

  Side effect to holding something so big? I wondered. I wasn’t sure. All of this was new to me. I was basically learning as I went. But I felt proud of what I had just managed to do. My powers were growing, and I could feel it. The sound of hands clapping made me turn to my right. A man dressed in an expensive-looking suit was walking towards us, a smile on his face.

  ‘I’m impressed. That was quite a show,’ he said. Sorin placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back slightly. He took half a step-in front of me, blocking me from the man who seemed to have appeared out of know where. ‘Relax, superhuman,’ he added to Sorin. ‘I have no intention of hurting the queen’s granddaughter. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Howard Clarence.’ Ah, the vampire from York that my grandmother had talked about. The one that wanted to take over for her when she stepped down.

  ‘I know who you are, Mr. Clarence,’ I replied.

  ‘I thought you might.’ He smiled. ‘You work well with the Executioners. You should consider joining them full time.’ I could see what he was doing. And apparently so could Sorin, who decided to speak up.

  ‘You’d like that. Then she wouldn’t become queen and the throne would be yours,’ he snapped.

  ‘It’s fine, Sorin,’ I said placing a hand on his shoulder and stepping in front of him. ‘If you were watching this whole time you could have helped. You know, considering you’re a vampire.’

  ‘You seemed to manage fine on your own,’ he replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. More like he didn’t want to get his hands dirty. I hated people like that. Even my grandmother would have assisted if she really had to. I could tell by looking at him that he had a sort of arrogance about him. That he thought he was better than everyone else. Did our people really want a man like that on the throne?

  ‘Zane, get the clean-up crew here to take care of the body,’ I said. He nodded and immediately took his phone out. ‘I have work to do, Mr. Clarence. I suggest you head home. The party’s clearly over.’ I turned my back on him to speak with Sorin. I was still worried about him. He’d obviously taken a hard hit to the head. ‘Come on,’ I said.

  I started dragging him back into the house through the broken windows, glass crunching under our feet. Once in the lounge I sat him down on the sofa and felt around his head. There was a lump at the base of his skull, he cringed slightly when I prodded it. But there was nothing I or a doctor could do for him. He would heal quickly and on his own. It didn’t mean I wasn’t still worried about him.

  ‘You sore anywhere else?’ I asked.

  ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll heal,’ he said standing up and moving away from me. ‘Only thing that’s going to be damaged long-term is my pride.’

  Alex and Zane walked into the room.

  ‘Good job, guys’ I said. ‘Anyone know where Kace and the queen are?’

  ‘They were getting the guests off the property last I saw,’ Alex said. I nodded. That made sense.

  ‘Any chance you can go find them and make sure everything is okay?’ I asked Alex. He nodded and left the room. ‘Well, that was quite a party,’ I mumbled.

  ‘Least it didn’t last long,’ Zane joked back, making me smile. ‘Who the hell was the arrogant vampire?’ he asked.

  ‘He’s the favourite for the throne if I don’t take it,’ I said. But guessing by the conversation outside, he already knew that.

  ‘He won’t have my vote,’ Zane said.

  ‘We don’t have to worry about that right now,’ I said. ‘It’s not like my grandmother’s going anywhere anytime soon. She’s got a few good years left in her, and if I was to become Queen I would need some sort of training. I don’t think being Queen is something you can learn as you go along,’ I said.

  Alex walked back into the room a few minutes later with Kace. Kace looked around as his team.

  ‘Is everyone alright?’ he asked.

  ‘Sorin took a nasty smack to the head, but he should be fine,’ I said. ‘Rest of us are in one piece. We need to find out where the creature came from. How the hell did it get here?’

  ‘Same way one got into the school is my guess,’ Kace said. ‘Someone putting them where they want them. Portals maybe?’

  He could be on to something, especially since these mutations were being caused by a warlock. A warlock would be able to open a portal and place the creatures wherever he liked with relative ease. All we knew about this warlock was that he wanted supernaturals to be superior to humans. Had he sent that creature to kill a few important humans at the party like the Prime Minister? I doubted it. He would have known there would be other supernatural beings here to stop the creature, so what had he really gained by sending one? So many questions and not enough answers.

  ‘The only way to find out for sure is to find the warlock responsible,’ I said.

  ‘We could do that,’ Zane said. Everyone looked at him ‘I told you guys that Anora had started her own team of Executioners. Why don’t we make that our main job?’

  ‘You did what?’ Sorin asked shocked.

  ‘Yeah, long story short I now have my own team of Executioners,’ I said before turning to Kace and Alex. ‘So how about it? Want to join my team or keep working for the government?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m with you,’ Alex said.

  ‘So am I,’ Kace replied. ‘It’s going to be weird learning to take orders from you, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually.’ He smiled.

  ‘Actually, Kace, I was hoping you would lead,’ I said. He shook his head, which surprised me.

  ‘No. I can’t accept the job unless you’re in charge. You’ll be my queen someday, hopefully. I can’t order my queen about. I’m happy to advise, but I’d need you to be in charge.’

  ‘Okay, what about second in command? I won’t always be joining you. I may have to stay here and learn how to become queen,’ I said.

  ‘So, you’re going to accept the throne?’ Sorin asked.

  ‘Yes,’ I replied smiling softly. ‘It won’t be for a few years, so I’ve got time to learn what I need to. And in the meantime, I can be a part-time Executioner and help you guys track down that warlock,’ I said. I could do both. I could make it work. My grandmother would just have to live with my decision. I knew she wanted me to be queen, but if I was to become queen, I needed time to learn. And I wanted to help my team, so she would have to make compromises.

  ‘Why haven’t you asked me to join you?’ Sorin asked.

  ‘Honestly, you’re the best superhuman my grandmother has. I’d be happier knowing that you would be with her,’ I said. He nodded in understanding, but still looked a little upset at my decision. Truthfully, I wanted him with me. I had gotten used to having him around, but once I became queen he would be working for me anyway. I would just have to be patient. Well, try and be patient.

  Chapter Eleven

  That night nobody went back to base. It was mainly because technically they didn’t work there anymore. They worked for me. None of us were tired as adrenaline was still running though us. I had changed into something a bit more comfortable than my ball gown before we sat in the lounge simply enjoying each other’s compan
y. My grandmother had retired upstairs thirty minutes prior with Sorin, saying she had phone calls to make and would need Sorin’s advice. I didn’t question it.

  At this moment in time I was just glad to be with my friends. Everyone was alive, despite the monster coming through the gym ceiling. The gym was a mess, worse than my bedroom had been, but it could be fixed so it wasn’t worth worrying about. The house was big, but it wasn’t big enough to house everyone. There were only five bedrooms and six of us including my grandmother. So that meant someone was sharing until I figured out where to set up a main base. As if Alex was reading my mind, he spoke up.

  ‘So, with all of us sleeping here, what are the sleeping arrangements going to be?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m in one of the spare rooms right now until a new window is installed in my room,’ I said. ‘That means there are only two bedrooms spare. We’ll all just have to share,’ I said.

  ‘I’ll share with Alex,’ Zane said. ‘Won’t be fun, but I’m sure we’ll survive.’

  ‘The window in my room should be replaced in the next couple of days,’ I said. ‘Then you can have the room I’m in the now.’ That meant Sorin and Kace would be together. Oh, God. If it was going to be a problem, Kace never mentioned it, which I was thankful for.

  ‘So we’ll be operating from here?’ Kace asked.

  ‘Yeah, I don’t think it will be a problem. But, to be honest, I haven’t exactly sat down and explained all of my plans to my grandmother yet. That will be the first thing on my to do list in the morning,’ I said nervously.

  What if she didn’t want me turning her home into a base for my team? I could always buy another house, but that would blow a huge hole in my budget, and I had my team to pay. I would need to sit down with someone and work out payments and everything as well. There was so much to do. I needed an assistant that could manage all that, so I’d need to hire someone else and bring them into the house as well. Though if they lived nearby, they wouldn’t have to stay. But what were my chances of finding someone local that would want to help a team of superhumans and a witch? Another witch or superhuman maybe, but there weren’t many out in the country. Just rogue ones that the Executioners had to deal with every now and again. God, there was so much to do.