Jace: #6 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Madison Stevens

  Chapter Five

  Veronica added a touch of lip gloss and stared into the mirror over the motel dresser. She let out a sigh.

  It was silly to be trying so hard to look good when she had work to do, but the hunky man from last night kept creeping into her thoughts, no matter what else she was doing. There was something about him calling to her. Very sexual. Very primal.

  She shook her head. The whole thing was stupid to even think about. She was a science-minded person, and there was no way she was going to be sucked into a one-night stand with a man she didn’t even know.

  Sure, he was hot, and she was obviously sexually attracted to him. But that didn’t even mean anything. She just needed to leave it at that and move on.

  She was so close to turning her internship into a permanent position. She couldn’t let herself be distracted.

  Besides, something was off about him and his searching for a dog with a name he didn’t know off the top of his head. And then there was the weirdness with his whole group of people and their buying their own little village out in the middle of nowhere. It was strange.

  Maybe they were a cult. Maybe they were some sort of survivalists. She didn’t know. All she knew was that they were odd.

  Veronica stepped back from the mirror and grabbed her coat from the bed. She slipped her room key into her back pocket and stepped out into the cold. Door number four closed behind her.

  The chilly wind howled, and a nearby sign squeaked. A cracked wooden fence stood on the other side of the nearby parking lot, swaying slightly in the wind. She was grateful there were only a few cars in the parking lot and that she didn’t have to park near the failing fence.

  The rundown motel hadn’t exactly been her first choice, but there weren’t a lot of places a person could stay in the area, and her budget limited her.

  She wasn’t too upset. In a way, she was even a bit grateful. With cutbacks at the department, she was lucky she was even getting paid as an intern and had any sort of project budget at all. That didn’t stop her for wishing for a better motel though.

  Veronica hurried to her car and started it as soon as she was inside. She glanced around, almost expecting to be watched. She half-expected to see the silhouette of an old woman rocking in the window, cackling.

  As if what was happening wasn’t creepy enough. After all, she had strange people—maybe even cultists—stealing pets out of people’s yards for who knew what purposes. And all that assumed some of the so-called cults were the people she needed to worry about.

  She’d traveled to enough small towns to realize sometimes the disturbing people were the ones that looked the most normal.

  She shook her head. “Get a fucking grip,” she mumbled to herself.

  Heat flooded the inside of the car, and after a moment of allowing it to warm up, she took off down the road.

  There were only two places to visit on her to-do list for the day. They were also the only two places she insisted on going to during the daytime. It was time to figure out if she was dealing with cults.

  * * *

  Veronica traveled the long, winding road leading out of town until it branched off. She turned and followed the path until it stopped in front of a massive door set in an even larger fence. The sort she might expect to see around a castle. She’d reached the compound of the Azilians.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered.

  She gathered her materials and stepped out of the car. Two men in brown cloaks stepped out toward her.

  Her heart picked up. She’d thought that Ms. Lewis might have been being uncharitable, but strange men in cloaks in front of huge defenses didn’t make her feel comfortable.

  She also realized no one knew where she was. She swallowed.

  “My name is Veronica,” she said. “I’m here on a conservation matter. I was sent—“

  “We’ve been expecting you,” one of the men said.

  She frowned. “I’m sorry, you’ve been expecting me?”

  One of the men nodded. “Please come with me. I’ll take you to meet our leader.”

  Veronica bit her tongue and wondered for a second if going with him was a good idea. The Azilians weren’t doing much to convince her they weren’t a cult.

  Still, they obviously weren’t killing random people, otherwise local law enforcement would have been all over them.

  She silently followed behind the man as he walked through a smaller door on the side of the gate. Inside, the area looked somewhat like she expected.

  Bland buildings stood close together. Nothing was adorned with any paint or color. Everything shared the same cinderblock gray color.

  The man pressed forward, giving her little time to look around. He pushed through another set of double doors and into a large building.

  Veronica took a moment to look around. This area was different from the others. Inside great tapestries hung from the wall and fluttered as they walked past.

  Strange scenes decorated the tapestries. Faceless men and women standing in some crystal city. A man surrounded by a blue glow. A crowd of people with their arms outstretched with the sky filled with blue light.

  The man glanced over his shoulder, apparently making sure she was following. “Just a bit farther.”

  They moved down a long hallway, and then he stopped abruptly.

  “Just inside here,” he said and waved to the room.

  Veronica stepped cautiously inside. Her breath caught. Now she was deep inside their compound. Maybe they just didn’t want to kill her anywhere the police could easily find evidence.

  She tried to push the thoughts out. This was just a simple meeting, not a scene from a horror movie. At least she hoped.

  She was surprised when she entered the room. A small woman sat at a large table. Her whole body was covered by a large white cloak.

  As Veronica moved toward the table, she spotted the woman’s pale hands as they rested on the table. They were the only part of her uncovered.

  “Please,” the woman spoke softly. “Have a seat. I am Anassa.”

  Although there was nothing overtly strange about her words, something about them felt wrong. Like they had been spoken down a well rather than in an open room.

  Veronica sat at the table across from the woman. She stared hard at Anassa hoping to catch a glimpse of the face under the hood.

  “H-hello,” she said, fumbling with the words. “I’m here on behalf of the Department of —“

  The woman waved a pale hand, dismissing what she had to say.

  “I know who you are, Veronica,” she said. “And I know why you’re here, even if you yourself do not understand it.”

  Veronica frowned. What the hell did that even mean?

  “Uh, yeah, I’m here about missing pets.”

  Something like laughter came from the woman. Or at least Veronica assumed it was laughter. But the sound made her feel weird inside, as if she were at odds with herself.

  She wondered if the Azilians had drugged her, but they hadn’t even touched her. Maybe some sort of gas was being circulated.

  She still had pepper spray. It might not be so good against a huge cat stealer, but she was sure she could use it against a few people here. Though she wasn’t so certain she could remember the way back to the gate. But if she had to make a run for it, she was ready to take the chance.

  “The pets are just a start,” Anassa said.

  Veronica narrowed her eyes. “Do you have something to do with the pets?”

  The cloaked head moved back and forth. “The hands of time have been set in motion,” the woman said. “And the monster you seek is but child’s play to the monster that lurks in the darkness.”

  Her heart thumped hard in her chest. It was utter nonsense, and yet what the woman said made her afraid.

  “What monsters are you talking about?” Veronica leaned in and waited.

  “They wait for you. Seeking the salvation they will never find. Your bonded is the key to your survival. He is the answer to
all of your questions, and your light through the darkness.”

  The cloaked hood turned quickly, and for a moment Veronica swore two burning blue orbs stared back out at her.

  She jumped back from the table. She hopped to her feet and edged toward the door. She’d had enough of this. Whatever it was.

  Two men stood at the door. She flinched when one placed a firm hand on her shoulder, his face rigid.

  “You will listen to Mother Anassa,” the man barked out.

  The woman at the table stood, and both men dropped to their knees.

  “She is free to go,” Anassa said. “Go, Veronica, and may the gods be with you.”

  Veronica didn’t wait around twice to be told. She spun on her heel and walked quickly from the strange woman. The further away she got from her, the better she felt.

  Her concerns about finding her way back faded. However bland the set up was, it wasn’t all that mazelike. Still, it wasn’t until she was outside of the gate that she was able to take in a deep breath.

  She tried to figure out what the hell had just happened. Mind control, drugs, something else? Maybe they were pumping something into the vents.

  She had no idea what had gone on, but there was something fucked up in that building, and there was no way she was going back there without a cop or three at her side.

  “She’s just crazy,” Veronica whispered.

  Anassa had said some strange things that Veronica didn’t quite understand. And yet somehow they rang true. She just couldn’t quite place a finger on why.

  Something rustled in the nearby trees. Something had been watching her. She glanced over toward the gate, but the brown-robed men had gone back inside.

  Veronica quickly climbed into her car and started the engine. She took several more deep breaths before she was able to calm down completely.

  She pulled out her phone to check out the next address on her map list. She still needed to visit the other alleged cult, but after her little encounter with Anassa, she didn’t know if she could do it.

  Part of her wanted to go back to the hotel and call it a day, but Veronica knew she couldn’t do that. Her bosses weren’t going to accept, “I got scared of some cryptic comments” as an excuse for not doing her job.

  Beyond that, she wanted to know what was going on in Eagle Ridge. Maybe if she connected all the dots, it would make sense. Right now, nothing was making sense, and her rational side craved a reasonable explanation.

  “Fucking weird-ass town,” she grumbled as she threw the car into drive.

  She was one paper away from her dream job, and there was no way she would let a bunch of weirdos get in her way.

  Chapter Six

  Despite the sprayer and large bucket filled with chemicals he carried, Jace’s thoughts kept returning to the blond woman from the forest.

  Christ, he couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind. He shook his head, rousing himself from thoughts of the woman for about the millionth time that day. No matter what he did, she seemed to be right there in his mind, calling to him, taunting him.

  The truth was still hard to wrap his mind around. She wasn’t just some random woman after all. She was his Vestal, his destined mate.

  He took in a deep breath. He’d never expected to run into his Vestal in the middle of nowhere, but the way fate had been playing out, perhaps he should have. Since they’d come into town, they’d encountered multiple Vestals.

  Whether that was the will of the ancient Atlantean gods, fate, or just dumb luck, he couldn’t say. It didn’t matter. What mattered was when and if he saw her again.

  Even after that brief encounter, he craved her. He could only imagine how addicted he’d be if he spent any serious time around her.

  He had decided to go ahead and put in his contacts in case he saw her again. Last night he’d had to keep his distance so she couldn’t spot his bright blue eyes. He was only lucky that they didn’t start glowing.

  There was no way he could easily explain that away. If anything, it’d be a dead giveaway about his true nature.

  Even if she was his Vestal, that didn’t mean she’d immediately accept that they needed to be together. He needed to be careful not to scare her off.

  He continued his task, which mostly involved spraying a harsh chemical along the edge of the long dirt road leading out of their land. He wrinkled his nose. He almost preferred hunting the Glycon in the dark.

  Still, he understood the necessity of his current task. With a Glycon on the loose, they couldn’t be too careful. They had been testing a few things they believed the Horatius Group had been using to mask scents.

  They had so many enemies, and their enemies all had more resources than them. If they could figure this out, it might finally give them an edge, even if it was just a small one.

  Jace coughed, the pungent chemicals still invading his nose and lungs.

  “Well, that ought to burn the hairs off your nose,” Rem said from behind him.

  Jace coughed a little and turned to look at his leader. With his easygoing ways, it was sometimes odd to think of him in that role. Though when the time came to take orders, it was hard to imagine challenging his authority.

  Regardless of his personality most of the time, Rem had been a good leader to the group. He always seemed to be thinking ahead and ready to take on whatever challenges might come.

  The truth was, without him, they would have never even escaped the clutches of the Horatius Group. Even ignoring everything else, that made him worthy of their respect.

  He’d even done well dealing with their major recent threat, the Azilians.

  Moving next to the cult had proven interesting. The hybrids still didn’t quite get why the religious group was collecting Vestals, or the nature of their strange blue stone.

  Even stranger, while the hybrids had clashed with the Atlantis-worshipping cult early on, in their more recent dealings, the cult had been neutral if not outright helpful.

  When one of the Vestals the hybrids had rescued from the Azilians was attacked by a mysterious force that the hybrids still didn’t understand, it had been Anassa, the secretive leader of the cult, that had aided her.

  No one seemed to truly understand the Azilians. Jace wasn’t sure that even Rem knew how to predict what they might do.

  Now the hybrids had to worry about Glycons. Only this time, the creatures were more powerful, more intelligent, and harder to kill than any they’d ever dealt with before.

  Jace was just grateful he was a grunt and not the leader.

  “I hear you had quite the encounter last night,” Rem said with a smile.

  Jace set down the bucket and cursed Rem in his head. He’d just managed to stop thinking about the woman, but now she was back in his thoughts.

  “I’ve never seen her before, but she’s looking into this whole thing,” Jace said. “She’s out there searching for an animal and is going to find much more than that if she keeps looking.”

  Rem nodded and stared out across the land of their community. There always seemed to be so much going on with the man, but he said very little on what he was thinking. “Is she yours?”

  The question came out more as a statement, and Jace wondered if he even meant it to be.

  “She’s a Vestal,” Jace replied.

  Rem looked back to him, his green eyes seeing all around him. “Do you feel the pull?”

  Jace sighed. If the question had been asked of him just twenty-four hours ago, he wouldn’t have had the slightest clue what Rem was talking about. He wouldn’t dare question the truth now.

  “Yes,” he said simply and sighed again.

  There was no denying it. He’d seen his people find their mates one by one. The longer he denied just what was happening, the harder he would fall.

  Even Marcus, who had been vocal about his hatred for humans, bonded quickly with his Vestal.

  “Then you need to keep her safe,” Rem said, his brow furrowing. “Follow her. Do what you need to, but above all, mak
e sure she doesn’t go near the woods. I’ve seen what the loss of a Vestal can do. It’s like watching a man’s soul being ripped out slowly.”

  Jace stared at him with surprise. He was used to the Rem that only told people what they needed to know, not one who would be so forthright about something so brutal.

  The story did little to make Jace feel better about what was going on. When Rem dropped his relaxed attitude and showed open worry, it only meant they should all be worried. Really worried.

  “I think we’re about to get some company,” Rem said and nodded to the road. The faint tension disappeared from his face, a grin replacing it.

  Jace stared down the road as a car made its way their direction. Even at that distance, his superior hybrid vision let him spotted the woman from the woods.

  Warmth flooded him. He was happy just seeing her again.

  “She’s smart,” Jace said. “It was like she knew that I wasn’t telling the truth.”

  Rem gave a little chuckle. “I think this means we have to get a dog.”

  The car stopped in front of them, and he watched as the small blond woman stepped out of the car.

  “You,” she said with a slight frown when she noticed Jace. She pointed. “I saw you last night.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, sorry about that. My name is Jace.”

  She stared suspiciously at him and then over at Rem.

  Panic shot through Jace. Though he’d put his brown contacts in, Rem hadn’t bothered. He relaxed when a quick glance revealed Rem had pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes.

  Never surprised. That was their leader.

  The woman stepped closer to the two of them.

  “My name is Veronica,” she said. “I do conservation work with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.”

  Rem nodded and held out his hand.

  “Rem,” he said with a smile and then nodded. “What can we do for you?”

  She paused for a moment, and Jace wondered just what was going through her mind.

  “I, uh, was just checking to see if people in the area had seen any big cats or bears,” she said and then turned to Jace. “Did you ever find your dog?” She paused for second before adding, “You said his name was Marcus, right?”